Nigeria and 13 African Countries Agree Cross-Border Securities Trading
By Chuks Emele
Nigeria and 13 other African countries have agreed a deal to enable cross-border trading of stocks and other securities.
“The breakthrough promises to enhance free flow of investments across the continent without hitches,” the Nigerian Exchange said in a statement on its website.
The participating countries include the biggest economies in the continent such as Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius and Morocco. The rest are members of Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), the West African regional bourse for mainly French-speaking countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and the former Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau.
Working with the support of the African Development Bank, the African Securities Exchanges Association established the African Exchanges Linkage Platform that provides investors with access to all the securities listed in the participating exchanges.
“The platform will enable investors to trade on Africa’s most promising and profitable businesses and global leaders, as well as corporate and government bonds, Exchange Traded Funds and derivatives,” the NGX said in the statement.
The move is considered a boost to market liquidity and efforts to increase intra-African investment flows, which tally with the objectives for the establishment of the African Continental Free-Trade Area.
Eight Nigerian brokerages have already signed up to participate in this first phase of the project. They are FBNQuest Securities Limited, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited, Rencap Securities (Nig) Limited, Cardinal Stone Securities Limited and Cordros Securities Limited.