By Ngozi Onyeakusi — The West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) will hold its inaugural biennial West Africa Capital Market Conference (WACMaC) in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire, from the 27th to the 29th of October, 2019.

The conference has as its theme “Positioning West Africa capital markets to achieve sustainable and real economic growth through integration and sound regulation”.

Chairman of WASRA and Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission Ghana, Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh who disclosed this at the just concluded Executive Council Meeting in Accra, Ghana weekend, said the Executive Council Members of WASRA approved the hosting of the inaugural conference in Abidjan in October.

Tetteh said 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.

According to the WASRA Chairman, “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 Ag. Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria, Ms. Mary 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.

Uduk said “It is expected that the challenges facing regulators and market operators in regulating cross border activities and bodies, raising inter-regional funds and listings will be adequately addressed.”

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 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).