Director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda said, the aim of the West African capital markets integration programme is the creation of an enabling environment for cross-border securities transactions and the integration of all capital markets’ jurisdictions in the ECOWAS region.
Yuguda stated this during a meeting with the director general of SEC Ghana in Accra recently.
According to Yuguda, in view of the enormous potentials of cross border listings, capital markets in the region are expected to develop a tool of cooperation that enables them to effectively police their respective markets and ensure that the standards of regulation set out by IOSCO are sustained, and where possible, improved upon.
He said, “Without the readiness of all concerned, the lofty aims of the programme may as well continually remain a dream. It goes to say, unequivocally, that this goal can only be achieved seamlessly when all member states of ECOWAS come on board and actively commit to achieving the noble objectives of the enhanced collaborative structure that these natures of agreements enable.
“On this note, the SEC Ghana and SEC Nigeria, desirous of achieving these ideals, have taken the lead by example and by driving this project in the sub-region while hopefully aiming to someday expand its coverage beyond the sub-regional frontiers onto other parts of the continent of Africa.”
The SEC DG said, enduring relationship between the two jurisdictions is more amplified by the fact that Ghana and Nigeria both have the largest markets in the West African sub-region and it will only be good foresightedness that both countries seize the advantage of size and peculiarities, and explore viable areas of cooperation, even as they continue to work assiduously with other stakeholders to integrate their markets and provide greater opportunities for the economic prosperity of people and their economies.
The director-general of SEC Ghana, Rev Daniel Tetteh stated that, Ghana and Nigeria can push forward in ways that will bring about the mutual benefits of leveraging the capital market, adding that, the region needs to have their markets open to each other so that they can achieve more and then attain one big capital market.
Tetteh expressed delight on the collaboration and pledged the commitment of SEC Ghana to continue to support the initiative, saying, “Both Securities commissions are ready to work together and develop the potentials of the capital market by examining issues and exploring ways to resolve them to make the capital markets work better.”
