Nigeria and Ghana has conducted their first-ever, bilateral share trading, a landmark transaction that signifies the practical takeoff of the integration of the Nigerian and Ghanaian stock markets.
This was made known by the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange, (NGX), Temi Popoola.
Popoola, while speaking on Thursday at the West Africa Capital Market conference in Lagos, confirmed the transaction, says technology has laid foundation for the development of capital markets not only in Nigeria, but in Africa.
On the panel themed “Digital Transformation and Infrastructure Development: Leveraging Technology Growth in ECOWAS Region,” Popoola stressed that technology can serve as a good building block for innovation in the capital market.
The landmark transaction, which was used to practically demonstrate the reliability of the technological platform that links the markets, implies that investors across the countries can trade across the range of equities and debts quoted on both markets.
He explained that the transaction with Second Stax- a Ghana based company, “marked the first ever transaction across borders in a Nigeria – Ghana bilateral trade.”
He said the latest bilateral transaction built on earlier breakthroughs by the Exchange noting that the market had in December 2021 recorded a landmark transaction of a secondary share sale through mobile phone.
“It was the first time in the history of our market where on a mobile phone end to end, shares could be bought by retail investors,” Popoola noted.
According to him, these examples of technological innovation in the Nigerian markey demonstrate how critical digital innovation can facilitate capital market growth.
Earlier, Chief Digital Officer, NGX, Olufemi Oyenuga made a presentation on how the NGX has been utilizing digitalization to drive the operations of the exchange.
