Mr Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh (left) and Mr Evans Osano signing the agreement.Photo.Ebo Gorman
The Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana (SEC Ghana) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa to participate in the organisation’s Africa Regulator Support Programme.
The SEC thus becomes the second capital market regulator after Nigeria to formalise its participation in the programme which was a continent-wide initiative designed to strengthen the continent’s capital market regulators to reach international standards.
The signing, which was done yesterday in Accra during the SEC’s third Capital Market Conference, was undertaken by Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, Director General, SEC Ghana and Evans Osano, Director of Financial Markets, FSD Africa and observed by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and Philip Smith, the Country Director for the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) in Ghana.
The two-and –a-half –year Africa Regulator Support Programme would include the funding of an institutional capacity assessment to identify strengths and areas of improvement in SEC’s strategy and operations and provide support to implement key recommendations.
The programme would also conduct a scoping study for the non-governmental bond market and help develop the country’s private debt market for cedi corporate bonds.
In general, the programme was designed to provide funding to build capacity of capital market regulators across the continent, provide world-class technical assistance, encourage closer collaboration among regulators and conduct research to support the development of new policies and regulations.
Mr. Ogbarmey Tetteh said the SEC was confident of a strong, mutually beneficial partnership with FSD Africa as the project commences.
He said the FSD Africa has been keen to support Ghana’s capital market development with its resultant impact on the real economy adding that as the Commission deepens capacity, the need for technical support and insights was very much appreciated.
Another key exercise that would come out of the partnership was a bond market study which would enhance the work being done on the Capital Markets Master Plan Working Group.
On his part, Mr. Osano said Ghana was chosen to be part of this programme because of its strong interest from international investors towards the country’s development and active support from government to drive capital markets development to raise long-term finance and support sustainable economic growth.
Mr. Smith welcomed the partnership between FSD Africa and SEC, which would help SEC Ghana to take advantage of international expertise.
The development of capital market was critical to enable access to sustainable financing for infrastructure and private sector investment.
As a programmes funded by the United Kingdom (UK) government, he said the FSD Africa is a new element to help Ghana move “Beyond Aid” and deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
BY Claude Nyarko Adams
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