AfDB, ASEA sign agreement for $600k grant to expand network of linked African exchanges

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) have signed an agreement for a $600,000 grant to expand the number of linked African exchanges, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The parties aim to increase the African exchanges from 7 to 15 under the second phase of the African Exchanges Linkage Project, as the funds will come from the Korea African Economic Cooperation Fund (KOAFEC) Trust Fund, managed by AfDB.

AELP’s second phase will provide investors access to over 2,000 securities listed on up to 15 capital markets through a cross-border securities trading platform tailored to the needs of regulators, central depositories, policymakers and stockbrokers.

Solomon Quaynor, AfDB’s vice president for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation said, “the bank is pleased to extend its partnership with ASEA through the follow-on support for phase two of the African Exchanges Linkage Project.”

He further added that the AELP project is facilitating regional integration through African stock exchanges linkage amounting to up to $1.3 trillion in combined market capitalisation.