Integration of W/A Capital Markets Get Boost with Formation of WASRA

The aspiration for an integrated West African economy received a massive boost when Chief Executive Officers of the three Capital Market Regulatory Institutions in the Region agreed to establish an association.

The Capital Market Regulators in the Region are Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Conseil Régional de L’Epargne Publique et des Marchés Financiers (CREPMF) which is the main Regulator of the Eight (8) Francophone Countries of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU).

Called The West African Securities Regulators Association (WASRA), the Association is supposed to lead efforts to integrate Capital Markets across the Region.

While addressing journalists, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, director general of SEC Nigeria, expressed delight at what he described as a “historic day” for the capital markets of West Africa.

Integration is certainly not a new thing in West Africa, since the formation of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS), there have been various initiatives to integrate different aspects of the Region’s economy. In the capital market, the West African Capital Market Integration Council (WACMIC) was inaugurated by ECOWAS to actualize the dream of an integrated capital market, although limited success has been achieved due to certain regulatory obstacles.

According to Mr. Gwarzo “For quite a while we have been discussing how the Regulators can come together to form an association in order to support the commendable integration efforts of WACMIC. Today we have achieved that milestone”. Integration is a very topical issue across the World.

Mr. Gwarzo, who heads the Africa Middle East Regional Committee (AMERC) of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), stated that the WASRA initiative was influenced by successes recorded in similar integration initiatives by Regulators in East Africa as well as the Arab and Middle Eastern markets.