African exchange organization plans to roll out Q3 project

The African Stock Exchange Association has said that following the successful launch of the first phase of the African Exchanges Linkage Project, it is considering rolling out the second phase of the project to ensure investors take advantage of the broad range of investment prospects on the African capital markets.

The President, ASEA and Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Stock Exchange, Thapelo Tsheole, made the announcement to market stakeholders on Wednesday during the AELP webinar theme Exchange Linkage Project – Facilitating Transactions Across Borders on Wednesday.

Hosted by Nigerian Exchange Limited and supported by Chapel Hill Denham Securities Limited, Central Securities and Clearing System, Cordros Securities Limited and Stanbic IBTC Limited, the webinar provided insight into the benefits and objectives of the AELP, Pan African Payment and Settlement and other requirements for cross-border transactions.

Tsheole applauded NGX for promoting the AELP initiative, noting that while African economies have faced numerous challenges, the continent’s resilience in the face of adversity underscores the potential for sustainable economic resilience and that initiatives such as the AELP be critical for Africa to rely on itself as it provides a boost of opportunity for investors across Africa and the world by fostering deeper integration and connectivity among African capital markets.

He said: “Having successfully launched the first phase of the project in December 2022, linking 7 exchanges in Africa, we are urging Nigerian brokers to now reach out to their counterparts in other countries and aiming for expanded cross-border trade across the continent.We look to roll out Phase 2 of the AELP in Q3 2023 as funding has already been approved by the African Development Bank.

We will expand the number of participating exchanges to approximately 15 exchanges and we believe this will enable investors in the continent to maximize and benefit from the wide range of investment prospects across Africa.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chief Executive Officer, NGX, Temi Popoola stated that despite offering high growth potential and investment returns, African equity markets still face challenges.

Noting that the AELP will encourage greater investment participation and further improve financial inclusion in the country, he added that the NGX will continue its collaboration with all market participants for the collective growth and development of the capital market in Africa.