NGX CEO becomes ASEA executive committee member

By Chioma Obinagwam

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the
Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), Mr Temi Popoola, has been elected to the Executive Committee of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA).

Confiance News gathered from a statement issued by NGX on Thursday

ASEA, the continent’s prime association of securities exchanges was established in 1993 with the mandate to develop its members’ markets, promote the capital market business and provide a platform for networking.

At the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference in Abidjan, Cote D’ Ivoire on 7 December 2022, Popoola was elected into the executive committee in a process that saw the Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Stock Exchange, Thapelo Tsheole and the Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Stock Exchange, Pierre Celestine Rwabukumba also elected as President and Vice President of ASEA respectively.

Popoola appreciated the representatives of the member exchanges for their confidence in selecting the committee members and thanked the immediate past president, Dr Edoh Kossi Amenounve for his service to the association.

“I also appreciate the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Mr Oscar N. Onyema OON for his support during my election to the committee and his efforts on ASEA’s initiatives during his time as leader of the association. As the president of ASEA between 2014 and 2018, he championed the initiation and development of the African Exchanges Linkage project which is now being officially launched and will aid the pooling of liquidity across exchanges on the continent.”

Popoola added, “ASEA as the premier association of securities exchanges in Africa is tasked with the duties of promoting the capital markets of its members at the global level and foster capital inflows into Africa capital markets. At NGX, we will continue to collaborate with other ASEA members on the development of our markets, intelligence and data sharing, and join in advocacy efforts. I am confident that the committee will continue to advance the pan-African agenda, enhance sustainability and capital mobilisation efforts and drive continent-wide financial inclusion for the development of our continent.”

It was also the official launch of the AELP, an innovation by ASEA done in partnership with African Development Bank (AfDB) and aimed at facilitating cross-border trading among seven participating Exchanges and select broker firms. According to ASEA, AELP will aggregate live market data from seven stock exchanges representing 2,000 companies with about $1.5tn in market capitalisation. It will enable brokers to access information, see market depth and liquidity of the foreign market of interest.

AELP’s phased rollout will be funded by a grant from Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Fund (KOAFEC) according to a statement from ASEA. Edoh Kossi Amenounve, ASEA’s outgoing President said in the statement, “With AELP, we are entering a new era of African capital markets where all our members will gradually transact cross-border trades from one African securities exchange to another. This project represents a great opportunity for investors and issuers across the continent.”

NGX was announced as one of the participating exchanges with FBN Quest Securities Limited, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers, CardinalStone Securities Limited, Chapel Hill Denham, Cordros Securities Limited and RMB Stockbrokers participating as securities dealers from Nigeria.