The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, has said that efficient functioning of capital markets in the West African Region requires a regular assessment of policies and programmes to fit current realities, and address the region’s peculiar challenges.
The Director General made this remark during the West African Capital Markets Conference with the theme Deepening and Strengthening the Capital Markets Across West Africa through Effective Regulation’ held in Accra, Ghana.
Yuguda, who is also the Chairman of the West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA), the organisers of the event, said the need for regular assessment necessitated the revision of the WASRA/WACMIC (West African Capital Markets Integration Council) Road Map to reflect current developments and include specific initiatives that will further improve the successful implementation of integration and other efforts.
He reiterated that against the backdrop of innovation and dynamism in the capital markets, there was the need for regulators to keep pace with this trend.
Yuguda pointed out that the WACMaC periodically availed members the opportunity to explore the role that financial markets should play in supporting the growth of the real sector of the respective economies and indeed the sub-region in general.
He expatiated: “We are not unaware that in some member states, capital markets activities are still in their nascent stage. In collaboration with ECOWAS, efforts are being made to encourage these jurisdictions to join WASRA. We intend to engage and partner with them to build capital markets that will support the growth and development of their respective countries while advancing our regional market integration efforts.
“As the region continues to expand in market size and influence, it becomes increasingly more important to focus our attention on developing world class markets by looking at innovative ways to address critical issues such as systemic risk, market integrity, investor protection, Fintechs and disruptive technologies.
“We must also be steadfast in our collective efforts to close the geographic distance between our markets through ways and means that facilitate regional integration”, the investment expert stressed.
Yuguda expressed delight at the high level of participation at the meeting emphasizing that the biennial Conference is geared toward promoting robust discussions on how to harness resources and effectively optimize collective efforts towards the integration of markets in the region.
The SEC boss said that the discussions would lead to the realization of a key outcomes, particularly on increase in capital markets’ contribution to economic growth of the region.
He explained: “You will recall that at our inaugural conference in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, we resolved to continually strive to create an environment that facilitates cross-border securities transactions; strengthen investor protection; build capacity; be more innovative with our processes, among others.
“To this end, we have made significant progress by adopting strategic initiatives aimed at boosting the economy, generating wealth, improving infrastructure development and growing trust and confidence as we strive for a deeper and more resilient capital market”, Yuguda added.
Similarly, in his address at the forum, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana, Rev. Daniel Tetteh, recalled the journey to achieve an integrated capital market in the West Africa sub-region began nine years ago with the overarching goal of creating a regional capital market that would create the platform for various issuers including corporates, governments, regional development bodies, agencies and multilaterals.
The initiative, he further explained, was aimed at raising relatively cheap capital to fund regional infrastructure projects, corporate expansion and private sector development, cross-border trade and overall economic development of the sub-region.
He explained: “Everyone who is participating in this conference has a sense or an appreciation of the important role capital markets play in the mobilization of long term capital in the financing mix of any economy so there is no need to preach to the choir here. The focus of this conference, and rightly so, is on how effective regulation can enable the deepening and strengthening of the capital markets in the sub-region.
“Any weak link in the regulatory regime in an integrated market can spell doom and hence the need for a lot of effort to be channelled into developing a harmonized set of rules and regulations, the application of best practice in the regulation of securities markets and pursuit of robust cooperation to avoid regulatory arbitrage, protect investors as well as the integrity of the capital markets”, Tetteh added.
According to him, doing this is even more critical in this age of innovative finance and technology, sustainable finance, the emergence of sophisticated financial solutions and the utilization of virtual platforms.
The investment expert charged the ECOWAS member states to collaborate in order to achieve an integrated market in the sub-region.
Tetteh said: “No one would do it for us so we owe it to ourselves to assume the responsibility. The good news is that we can do it so let’s go for it. Your very strong participation in this conference says something about commitment to the cause so there’s hope that the dream would become reality.”
