Experts to Discuss Ways to Strengthen West African Capital Market

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

From May 23 to 25, 2022, stakeholders in the West African capital market will gather in Accra, Ghana for the biennial West Africa Capital Market Conference (WACMaC).

The participants will consider ways of Deepening and Strengthening the Capital Markets across West Africa Through Effective Regulation at the event organised by the West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) headed by the Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda.

According to him, “WACMaC provides a veritable platform for networking as over 300 participants would gather to reflect on issues affecting regional integration and proffer practical solutions to address such issues while also solutions around where our strategic efforts should be focussed in the coming years.”

“As a region, we have advanced we have advanced by bringing together focused initiatives intended to engender trust and confidence as we consistently aim for a deeper and more resilient capital market,” he added.

Mr Yuguda stated that the conference will bring together experts, top government officials, captains of industry, international organisations and other key stakeholders to discuss issues of regional concerns and seek ways to further drive regional integration through the capital market.

Specific thematic areas that will be addressed include access to finance, sustainable finance, cooperation and investor protection, investor education and innovative finance and technology. Others are private equity and venture capital in SMEs financing in Africa as well as Islamic finance.

WACMaC is a biennial event that seeks to present the West African region and indeed Africa as a whole the opportunity to address important issues related to the orderly growth and development of the regional and continental capital market.

The objective of the group is to promote the economic integration through the capital market in West Africa; bring innovative solutions to reduce the gap between capital markets and the financial needs of the economy in the region, and increase awareness and capacity building around the benefits of regional integration for each stakeholder;

Other objectives are to identify key actions for capital markets’ stakeholders to sustain economic growth and address critical issues related to project financing sustainability and cross border issuers and market operators.