EASEA meeting focuses on building awareness

The East African Securities Exchanges Association (EASEA) has resolved to be proactive in developing and educating the regional masses. Jonathan Njau, Chairperson of EASEA said in a press statement that the body’s relevance to member economies will only be noticed through its contribution to the welfare of the people but not through the growth of market capitalization figures reported daily. He made the remarks during the 15th EASEA meeting held in Diani Kenya from the 29-30, 2009. According to the press statement from EASEA, a number of initiatives had been achieved and were currently in progress as per the joint strategic plan. In the bid to build capacity and strengthen the markets, there have been initiatives such as the Securities Industry Training Institute (SITI) which was rolled out in all the four countries. The joint branding initiative through the development of a common identity had borne fruit through the successful creation of an EASEA logo. Njau also stressed out that the need to step up efforts to ensure successful implementation of all other initiatives that had been discussed, especially in the area of product development. “As exchanges, we have a noble duty to assist our countries to raise the needed long-term finances for development projects,” he explained. Among other successes that were mentioned included the information services development arm that rolled out a quarterly journal, The Exchange, which had thus far managed to capture the progress in the respective markets and was an effective tool in educating the public. The association consists of the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Dar-Es-Salaam Stock Exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange, Rwanda Over-The-Counter market The statement says that Rwanda being a new entrant into the regional securities body has registered modest achievement working with the Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC). It adds that the Kenyan Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) is currently engaged in developing a legal and operational framework to offer depository services to CMAC. The CDSC is also rolling out other services which include the initial public offer (IPO) processing module which means the provision of an end to end automated system to process IPO applications from investors. They are also looking to offer registrar services for listed securities, depository services for unlisted securities, and the distribution of corporate entitlements such as dividend processing services. Ends

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EASEA meeting focuses on building awareness