East meets West: Ghana and Kenya link their stock markets to boost continental trading

NAIROBI, Kenya - In a bid to tap into the African continental growth both Kenya and Ghana have linked their stock/securities exchange allowing the cross-trading of equities and bonds from the pair of jurisdictions.

This new linkage of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has been facilitated by SecondSTAX, a fintech that seeks to interlink African Capital Markets.

Through this new portal investors from both countries will be able to trade from either party with long-term plans set to see the inclusion of retail investors.

Geoffrey Odundo -NSE Chief Executive Officer has termed the new move as key to propelling market liquidity and trading growth as well as options to investors in Kenya and Ghana.

“These linkages are good as they will create a bigger market in Africa and will allow cross-border trading. Investors in Ghana who want to trade in Kenya will have a straight-through process,” Odundo said.

Krestel Capital -a stock brokerage firm has been chosen to support trade orders from the Kenyan side.

The new linkage comes ahead of the implementation of the Africa Exchanges Linkages Project (AELP) which is set to go live on December 7.

The linkage program is set to bring together notable exchanges on the continent including the NSE, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Nigerian Stock Exchange, Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Egyptian Exchange, and the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

The program also features the Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres which brings together exchanges in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

The project is a joint initiative of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Meanwhile, neighboring Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania are set to link their stock exchanges in a World Bank-funded project which will see the three operate a single market.

GAROWE ONLINE