Creating strong union between African exchanges attracts investors: Samy

Sherif Samy, former chairperson of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), asserted that most African exchanges are still small, emerging ones, stating that only four African exchanges can be considered as relatively strong on the investment map, namely the exchanges of Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, and Nigeria.

“Other small African exchanges can adopt a model that emerged in western Africa, in terms of making a union between many exchanges to form one strong exchange, so that it can to be more attractive for investments,” he added, noting that countries like Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico merged into one strong entity in Latin America, in addition to Scandinavian countries that applied the same model, like Sweden and Norway.

“This is an effective means to create communication and cooperation between countries,” Samy asserted.

In this respect, the FRA chairperson said that it is possible to adopt dual-listing for African countries, if they have similar rules and regulations.

“I recommend the African Reinsurance Corporation” to be a model to follow regarding dual-listing, for it includes dozens of African countries as shareholders, adding that Egypt is a founding partner in it.

“Moreover, Egypt can introduce technical support for African countries, in terms of cooperation, because of the fact that the EGX is the oldest exchange market on the continent,” he added.