Forum on Developing the Central African Financial Market (FODEMAF)

The Forum on Developing the Central African Financial Market (FODEMAF) will be held in Equatorial Guinea on 24- 25 February 2016. A key purpose of the Forum on Developing the Central African Financial Market (FODEMAF) is to share the results of the study on the potential of the regional financial market conducted by the firm of consultants Roland Berger in partnership with the World Bank as part of CEMAC’s Project for Strengthening Institutional Capacities.

1- Context and Justification

In deciding to establish a financial market in Central Africa, the strategic focus of the CEMAC Heads of State was to obtain access to extensive financial resources for the promotion of economic development. This vision was complemented by the findings of the study conducted by the Mauritius Stock Exchange providing a predictive financial analysis of the market, which concluded the market was both viable and profitable.
To respond to this challenge, institutional conditions enabling the drawing up of a regulatory framework, the technological selection of systems for listings and settlement, the approval of market players and the study and authorisation of initial stock exchange operations were established and implemented.

However, more than a decade after the market became operational, the results are still highly inconsistent and do not match the predictions of the initial study. This points to the existence of constraints and difficulties that are hindering the market’s development.
Thus, in order to better understand the sluggishness of the Central African financial market and conceive appropriate solutions for its successful development, a prospective study on the potential of the regional financial market was requested and has just been completed. The study begins by providing an analysis of the CEMAC financial markets and identifies the principal enterprises and institutions that might have recourse to the market, then goes on to recommend actions to stimulate increased market dynamism. These actions must therefore be discussed by all the stakeholders to ensure their relevance and feasibility.

The Forum on Developing the Central African Financial Market is therefore necessary in that it represents a crucial step in mobilising CEMAC’s economic powers around the financial market, re-stimulating the economy and providing new ways of accessing long-term financing.
It is with this goal in mind that his Excellency, OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, in his capacity as CEMAC’s current President, has agreed to support the Forum.

2- Objectives and Expected Results

This forum will enable all the stakeholders in the development of the financial market and all the potential players identified by the study to gather together in order to share the general findings of the study, thus enabling each party to take the results on board and draw on the experiences of others. It shall be the occasion to send a message to all potential issuers and investors regarding the financial market’s ability to ensure, with the appropriate level of security, new and alternative ways of financing activities. The forum shall also act as a powerful tool for exchanges between market players and potential issuers and institutions.
As the first decade of the Central African financial market’s existence comes to a close, this forum therefore signals a new way of financing CEMAC economies via the market.

More specifically, this forum will enable:

– an improved understanding of issues relating to the financial market on the part of all stakeholders;
– improved perception and understanding of the stock market by the private sector;
– an affirmation of the fundamental position and role of the private sector in the process;
– a concerted effort to establish a roadmap for market development measures;
– improved prioritisation of measures to be implemented;
– the establishment of a veritable taskforce for market development.

3- Target audience

This forum gathers together all the stakeholders in the development of the financial market in Central Africa. It will enable the direct linking and cooperation of political decision-makers (Ministers of the Economy and of Central African Monetary Union Finances, sectoral ministers, CEMAC institutions) with potential issuers (private and public sector enterprises), institutional investors (banks, insurance companies, social security bodies, investment funds, etc.), market players (regulators, stock exchanges, intermediaries, etc.) and other professionals (rating agencies, lawyers, auditors, etc.).
The development partners (World Bank, African Development Bank), who have been invited to present their programme for the subregion in the area of financial development, will provide effective support in approving the roadmap for the market’s development and also in terms of the various forms of assistance that they may procure to aid completion of the objectives established by the study.

4- Programme of activities:

Panel 1: Context of the study on the potential of the Central African financial market;
Panel 2: Presentation of the study;
Panel 3: Presentation of the market development action plan;
Panel 4: Conditions for market stimulation and presentation of example intermediaries and issuers.
Panel 5: Implementation of the market development plan
Panel 6: AfDB and World Bank regulations and provisional programme of operations for Central Africa.

5- Location and date of the forum:

SIPOPO Conference Centre
24 and 25 February 2016.

Source: Marché Financier de l’Afrique Centrale (COSUMAF)