The African Development Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Central Depository/Settlement Bank of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) for a grant of US$400,000 to modernize regional financial market infrastructure.

The grant will come from the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund, a multi-donor fund, administered by the African Development Bank. It will allow the creation and operationalization of a digital platform to automate the management of public offering operations for the regional financial market.

The digital platform will be hosted by the Central Depository/Settlement Bank of the West African Monetary Union, an independent actor in the public offering process.

The AfDB stated that it expects the digital platform to facilitate access to public offering information and data for regional market participants and provide them with reliable information in real time. The digital solution will also make it possible to automate the operational process relating to the subscription phase, to have the most reliable allocation registers in real time and to reduce as much as possible the period of immobilization preceding their entry in the books of the Central Depository/Settlement Bank, the Bank Group said in a statement.

Speaking on the partnership, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, Managing Director for the West Africa region of the African Bank Group stated that the African Development Bank is a key partner in the development of the regional financial market of the West African Monetary Union.

“After having already supported the Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets, the Regional Stock Exchange, and the Agence UMOA-Titres, we look forward to continuing to support the development of the market with this first partnership with the Custodian.

“This project will be implemented at an opportune time, when most of our regional member countries, including those in the West African Monetary Union, are seeking to stimulate post-Covid-19 recovery. The support of the African Development Bank through this grant will help mobilize additional resources and support the efforts of the economies of the Union”.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade

Project to facilitate access to investors

Edoh Kossi Amenounve, Managing Director of the Central Depository / Settlement bank, underscored that the project will facilitate access to investors and ensure transparency in the financial market.

“The implementation of this project to digitize public offering transactions on our market will facilitate access for investors, especially individuals, to our products through an automated, transparent and secure subscription mechanism. The Central Depository/Settlement Bank is delighted to be part of this major technological development which aims to accelerate the development of the regional financial market of the West African Monetary Union”.
Edoh Kossi Amenounve

Established in 1996, the Central Depository/Settlement Bank is the only central depositary and settlement bank for the regional financial market of the West African Monetary Union. The West African Monetary Union regional financial market is a successful model of a fully integrated regional financial market.

The Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets (the financial market regulatory authority of the West African Monetary Union), the Regional Securities Exchange (the regional stock exchange of the West African Monetary Union) and the Central Depository/Settlement Bank, are the central structures of the regional financial market, a key component of the regional financial system.

The Capital Markets Development Trust Fund is a multi-donor grant facility, designed to develop robust African capital markets and support the efforts of the African Development Bank Group to mobilize domestic resources to finance development. Administered by the Bank, it is supported by the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Cooperation of the Netherlands.