Capital market authorities in Nigeria and Ghana have expressed their desires to ensure collaboration between the two markets.
During the visit by the Ghanian market authorities to its Nigerian counterparts, the duo agreed on the need to enhance coordination and cooperation on issues of common interest in order to nurture market innovation and fair competition as well as promote capital market efficiency in the West African sub-region.
Addressing the delegation, Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda said Nigeria had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on securities regulation with Ghana in Accra on August 27, 2003 to foster co-operation and ensure orderly, fair and transparent financial markets across the two jurisdictions.
Yuguda said SEC is ready to consult, cooperate and exchange information to achieve common mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient securities markets that facilitate capital formation.
He stated that Nigeria recently recorded a landmark achievement on approving the first wholly-electronic public offering of equities in 2021, an offer that combined feature of price discovery through a book-building exercise to qualified institutional investors, and subsequent offer to retail investors at the determined price.
He added that the derivatives market is also coming on stream with potential implications for market depth and liquidity, through the development of risk management products.
He noted that the SEC Nigeria has achieved quite a lot through careful implementation of sound initiatives, which include introduction of rules on green bonds to promote issuance of debt instruments for financing of environmentally friendly projects and to provide the regulatory framework necessary for sustainability finance in Nigeria, creation of a fintech and innovation division dedicated to products and services rooted in information technology, dematerialisation of share certificates, e-dividend and direct cash settlement among others.
According to the Director General; Securities and Exchange Commission Ghana (SEC Ghana), Rev. Daniel Tetteh, the country has been leveraging on the MoU signed with Nigeria few years ago to develop the capital market in Ghana.
“We remain committed as we work together to boost our capital markets and push for our integration of the capital market in the sub-region.
“Nigeria and Ghana have what it takes to ensure that the sub-region has a well integrated and functional capital market, “ Tetteh said.
He outlined that the Ghana Capital Market Masterplan is being implemented under four major pillars including improving diversity of investments products and market liquidity, increasing investors base, improving the market infrastructure and market services and improving regulations, investors confidences and enforcement.
Tetteh also urged investors to consider placing investments on the Ghana Stock Exchange to enhance the capital market across Africa and stressed the need to integrate the capital market within Africa.
