Mary Uduk, acting director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expressed expectations for the upcoming West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) conference scheduled for October.
A statement from the SEC, quoted the acting dg to have said, she expects that challenges facing regulators and market operators in regulating cross border activities and bodies, raising inter-regional funds and listings will be adequately addressed.
Uduk, noted that one of the mandates of WASRA is to provide the necessary regulatory platform for capital market operators to play a major role in mobilizing funds to finance infrastructure and contribute to the development of the process that will integrate and ultimately develop the regional capital market.
According to the statement from the SEC, WASRA will hold its inaugural biennial West Africa Capital Market Conference (WACMaC) in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire.
Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, chairman of WASRA and director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission Ghana, was quoted by the SEC to have said that, the inaugural conference will focus on infrastructure financing across the region, and will attempt to proffer solutions or recommendations that will help shape the development and integration of the region’s capital markets and economies.
The conference has as its theme “Positioning West Africa capital markets to achieve sustainable and real economic growth through integration and sound regulation”.
According to the SEC, Tetteh, at the just concluded executive council meeting in Accra, Ghana, weekend, disclosed that the executive council members of WASRA approved the hosting of the inaugural conference in Abidjan this October.
The WASRA chairman said “activities in today’s markets span across regions with inter-regional issuances and listings being the impetus needed to drive economic integration and growth in the region. Thus, the theme for the inaugural conference is timely and affords us the opportunity to leverage on the information and knowledge that will be shared at the upcoming Conference.”
The conference will open with a seminar for regulators, exchanges and depositories in the region, followed by the public conference with speakers and panellists drawn from regulatory agencies, investment funds, inter-regional economic bodies, as well as eminent researchers and academics, the SEC’s statement explained.
It further noted that the WACMaC is expected to become a major biennial event for the capital market community in the region and is jointly organised by WASRA, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Capital Market Integration Council (WACMIC), and the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI).
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