GSE to sign MoU with Casablanca Stock Exchange

The Ghana Stock Exchange has initiated moves to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Casablanca Stock Exchange to ensure traders on both exchange get access to each other’s market.

The MoU will also allow the sharing of information and communication and the exchange of updates on rules and regulations between the two markets.

Under the MoU, brokers in both countries would be taken through professional training programmes to deepen their professional development.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Mr Kofi Yamoah, speaking to the media after receiving a delegation from the Casablanca Stock Exchange, said he was convinced the move would help both exchanges to develop better.

He said the signing of the MoU would also allow companies in Ghana to list on the Casablanca Stock Exchange and vice versa.

The Kingdom of Morocco has sent a large delegation to Ghana for bilateral trade talks and Mr Yamoah said the GSE would, therefore, seize the opportunity to sign the MoU which had been under discussion for months.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE), Mr Karim Hajji, said the MoU was necessary because the CSE wanted to ensure a seamless transaction between the two countries.

“We want to provide the opportunity to share experiences between the two markets,” he stated.

“The CSE is already partners in the African Securities Exchange Association and also part of the West African Capital Integration Council as an associate member. The goal of these partnerships is to deepen the collaboration between Morocco and other African countries,” he added.

WACMIC

The West African Capital Markets Integration Council (WACMIC) is in the process of creating the second-largest exchange in Africa after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

WACMIC is made up stock exchanges from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Cote d’ Ivoire, with Morocco joining as an associate member.

The council intends to set up a common platform for cross-border listing and trading in West Africa to create broader and deeper liquidity across the region.

Mr Yamoah said the regulators and the exchanges have met and are ready to roll out the plan.

“The start of this will, however, depend on what each issuer will have to compromise. We have met as far as the exchanges are concerned and the association of regulators has also met and it is now left with the dealers to decide,” he stated.