Aig-Imoukhuede Harps on Role of Securities Exchanges in Economic Growth

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, first vice-president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has emphasized on the role Securities Exchanges in leading global economic growth.

He stated this at the third Building African Financial Markets Capacity Building Seminar (BAFM) at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in Sandton, South Africa.

In his keynote address entitled “Africa Rising – The Role of Securities Exchanges”. he discussed five areas of opportunity within which African Exchanges can make impactful interventions for the economic wellbeing of their nation states namely; capital formation, income inequality and the wealth divide, economic policy and planning, sustainability and lastly, best practices.

The Seminar was established to promote the growth and development of African financial markets by giving representatives from stock exchanges, regulatory bodies, stock broking firms and other interested parties the opportunity to deepen their operational knowledge about topical subjects related to capital markets.

Speaking on the opportunities in Africa, he predicted that the continent will lead global economic growth in the coming years as Africa has recorded an average growth rate of 5% over the past 10 years, underscoring its resilience to regional and global headwinds.

He stated that: “By reconsidering our current priorities and building on our knowledge base of models and practices that enable us leapfrog from our current third world realities to higher levels of development, we can change the Africa Rising narrative and make it ‘Africa has arrived’”.

He addressed how private and public sector leaders must be made to understand that Exchanges are particularly important in the provision of long-term financing, as they help with mobilizing resources and directing the flow of savings and investments to businesses.

He also highlighted the importance of maintaining consistent policy regimes based on just and equitable principles that will generate and preserve issuer and investor confidence in African capital markets.

Speaking on the NSE, he mentioned that in an effort to raise corporate Nigeria’s level of competitiveness, the NSE recently developed a Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) for listed companies in partnership with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBi).

Aig-Imoukhuede also acknowledged that though African securities exchanges are contending with challenges such as trading limited to a handful of stocks and generally low liquidity, he is of the belief that African exchanges must lead the “march for change”, by influencing their governments to implement enabling policies that will encourage the flow of capital and investment to the continent.

In conclusion, Aig-Imoukhuede stated, “While we can talk regulation, market structure, post-trade services and other technical talk, it is important for African exchanges to look beyond the ‘bits and bytes’ of the exchange business, and consider the nuances of our respective environments. As children, citizens and businessmen and women of this amazing continent that is often referred to as the ‘last frontier’, we can take from others’ experiences, but we must do what is right for the future of our nations and our people. The world is getting flatter every day, and with a soring world population we must facilitate the drive for wealth creation for our own people, while providing the platform to which global savings can be channeled. We must use this opportunity to partner with each other, to enable us further unlock our continent’s growth potential, and advance the development of our financial and capital markets.”