![[South Africa] JSE, African exchanges, AfDB and ASEA partner to increase cross-border trade in Africa](Images/2018/JSE.jpg)
[South Africa] JSE, African exchanges, AfDB and ASEA partner to increase cross-border trade in Africa
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and seven African partner exchanges in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) hosted the African Exchange Linkage Project (AELP) Stakeholder Engagement Forum, which aims to strengthen investment flows across African countries.
The AELP is a joint initiative between these exchanges with intentions to enhance liquidity amongst African Capital markets by harmonizing rules, jurisdictional laws and trading, as well as clearing and settlement on the various African exchanges. This will support the ease of business and driving investment into the continent.
Emmanuel Diarra, Manager of Capital Markets and Development at the African Development Bank in his opening remarks said:
"The African Development Bank has a long history and partnership with the African Securities Exchanges Association. This partnership compliments the AfDB's interventions to support the development of deep and resilient capital markets in Africa. The Bank will continue to enhance its work with regulatory institutions, institutional investors, stock exchanges and other capital market stakeholders to strengthen regulatory frameworks, broaden market participation and product offerings, as well as improve the dissemination of capital markets data for transparent pricing mechanisms. "
The AELP which started in 2016 with only four exchanges, has since grown to seven participating exchanges. These include the JSE, The Egyptian Exchange, Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Casablanca Stock Exchange, Nairobi Securities Exchange and The Nigerian Stock Exchange. The long-term goal is for all 27 ASEA member exchanges to join the AELP and increase Africa's competitive advantage, compared to other emerging markets.
The AELP has aligned its goals to include the creation of a central trading platform linked to exchange trading systems; the free flow of trading information between linked exchanges; broker access to the linked trading platform, and the creation of products based on securities from the linked exchanges.
Anne Clayton, Head of Public Policy at the JSE said:
"The AELP is a great addition to many collaborative initiatives around Africa. As the JSE, our focus is to enable sustainable and inclusive growth and development, not only in South Africa but on the continent as well. There is great interest within Africa for investment , and the AELP provides an opportunity for alignment or exchanges within the continent, therefore collaborations with key stakeholders will continue to be at the center of ensuring and securing a growth path for Africa. "
