News and developments on African capital markets, includes: African securities, African stock exchanges/stock markets, African equities, African bonds, African private equity/venture capital, and African social impact investment
Africa’s 24 stock markets should learn to work together better if they are to seize high levels of investor interest, said Nicky Newton-King, CEO of South Africa’s JSE Ltd. She told an interviewer that plumbing, – technology and other links between exchanges and clearing and settlement – were more likely routes to more liquidity than trying to create a single exchange.
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission hopes to boost liquidity on the Nigerian Stock Exchange by getting previously privatized enterprises to list their shares and is progressing demutualization and higher standards for stockbrokers.
Today the Nigerian Stock Exchange is to launch its market-making programme. This will be a hybrid process, with market makers offering 2-way (buy-sell) price quotes in selected securities and a continuation of the current process in which licensed broker/dealers of the NSE submit orders.
West African stock exchange leaders are again talking about integrating the markets. The exchanges in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire have said they will seek to integrate by 2014.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange says it will have the fastest trading system in Africa when it upgrades its trading to NASDAQ OMX Group’s X-Stream platform, with a target date of second quarter of 2013. The new system will handle a wide range of instruments.
Reuters newsagency has put together stories on issuers’ and investors’ difficulties with African stock markets. These include lack of liquidity and sinking currencies. It notes that African companies are increasingly dual listing on international stock exchanges.
Developing Africa’s securities exchanges is critical for the continent’s development, with capital markets standing between huge demand for capital for growth and huge demand to invest. The key issues are on the agenda of The 15th Annual African Securities Exchange Association conference (in Marrakesh, Morocco), hosted by Casablanca Stock Exchange, 12-13 December.
The Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria is considering setting up an Investor Protection Trust Fund. This comes after news that no-one has claimed from a reported N500 million fund for investor protection at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Nigerian regulator, the Securities & Exchange Commission, is travelling the country to build education and awareness. SEC Director General Arunma Oteh, SEC Commissioners and senior officials visited Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, for 4 days of meetings with stakeholder groups.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange has placed 24 companies on full suspension for failing to submit their financial statements for the year ended 31 December, 2010 and has also suspended 3 banks that are being rescued.