AFRICA - CEMAC EXCHANGE - World Bank provides assistance for its implementation

The World Bank provides assistance in the second phase of the Cemac stock exchange unification project

(Invest in Cameroon) - The Bank of Central African States (Beac) reports that the second phase of the unification project for the CEMAC stock exchange has already begun. This is being done through a World Bank mission on the restructuring and development of unified regional financial market entities (regulator, stock exchange and central depository).

The Beac explains that the World Bank's planned support will focus on three essential aspects, namely the harmonisation of the regulatory corpus, the optimisation of market infrastructure (rating platform, central depository information system, etc.). and strengthening the human capacities of the various structures combined.

The objective of the World Bank's assistance mission is ultimately to achieve "the creation of starting conditions for the revitalisation of the regional financial market through strong one-off measures by states, in particular through direct contributions in securities. short-term trading (privatisation programmes, measures of last resort forcing certain companies operating in the CEMAC introducing part of their capital into the market, etc. )', says the Central Bank.

The establishment of Bretton Woods should also enable the development of 'models' of issuers and reference intermediaries that can carry the market and convey a positive image, actively promoting the market to potential issuers through a plan for marketing, support and development of the local stock culture.

Finally, it will be a matter of moving on to the development of a medium-term supply structuring programme, in order to adapt it to the financing needs of Cemac's economies and investor behaviour (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad). To this end, says Beac, consider relaxing the conditions for access to the stock market or creating a dedicated sub-fund for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Despite some delays that caused a slight shift in the initial period (set for end-September 2018, then postponed to end-November 2018), the first phase of the merger of the Cemac financial markets was completed in July 2019. this first phase, the process of merging the structures of the two Central African stock markets, resulted in a new regional financial market configuration structured around a single regulator, headquartered in Libreville (Gabon), and a single stock exchange, whose headquarters are in Douala (Cameroon). This stock exchange is the result of the merger of two existing stock exchanges (Central African Securities Exchange [Bvmac] and Douala Stock Exchange [DSX]).

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