KINGSTON, Jamaica– The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has entered into a partnership with the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), allowing the capital markets of the two countries to expand their products and services to investors.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of Mutual Recognition was signed on Monday with the JSE managing director, Dr. Marlene Street Forrest, who signed the accord, saying, “it further cements our objective of strengthening our linkages and improving our relationship with what we consider to be another area of our diaspora connection – the South-South connection.”
GSE managing director, Peterson Ekow Afedzie, described the MOU signing as historic for many reasons. This is the first time Jamaica has signed an agreement in the African stock market.
“It is also historic for Ghana because it’s the first time we are also reaching out to the Caribbean,” he said.
Dr. Street Forrest said the JSE continues its drive to diversify and widen its participation in local and regional markets and international markets. The relationship with Ghana is strategic as the entity pursues its 2025 vision to expand its borders for growth and sustainability.
“We continue this journey of executing our 2025 strategic mission by going further afield to Africa, starting with Ghana, where our people are similar. This is also in pursuit of the initiative to the benefit of both GSE and the JSE because we feel that we can work together to ensure that there is wealth creation, that there is a further development of our markets.”
She said that the JSE has been collaborating well with many of its sister exchanges within the Caribbean and with sales in North America, the United Kingdom (UK), and other countries worldwide. Through the MOU, the JSE is now commencing its push into the African continent, starting with Ghana.
The JSE managing director said certain commonalities ally with Ghana’s ideal, pointing out, for example, that, like Jamaica, Ghana has a growing, young, educated middle-class population that has a high demand for goods and services.
“Therefore, over the next several years, many companies globally, I believe, will be setting up industries and companies in Africa and the Caribbean. I believe as a stock exchange; we are perfectly poised to benefit from such expansion.”
She said the JSE also believed that an alliance with the GSE is a starting point in building partnerships with other countries in Africa and exploring collaborations and cooperation.
“We have 50 years of experience; Ghana has [had its] exchange for 30 years, but we believe that we can leverage both experiences for the benefit [of both parties]. There is sufficient commonality for mutual understanding, collaboration, and growth. This will help flesh out those areas of cooperation and set a path for a closer relationship, which we hope will benefit our exchanges… and deepen our ties across the continent,” she said.
Afedzie, leading a delegation on a one-week study tour of the JSE, said that the GSE is excited about the collaboration “that we believe will last for a very long time.
“That collaboration [has led] to us signing an MOU, which I hope, and I believe, will lead to us having cross-listers where we can have companies from Ghana listing on the JSE and vice versa.
“We believe that this collaboration can lead to further development of our economies; it can lead to us collaborating in terms of the broader economies. Therefore, we also know that this collaboration will explore various investment opportunities across Jamaica and Ghana,” he added.
The symbolic ringing of the bell during the ceremony signified the market’s opening and officially welcomed the delegation from the GSE to Jamaica and the JSE.
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