Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, Chief Executive Officer of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), was on Sunday, November 23, 2014 elected President of African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA). This decision was reached at the Executive Committee meeting of ASEA after its 18th Annual General Meeting in Diana, Kenya.
The ASEA flagship Conference was opened by His Excellency, Honourable William S. Ruto, Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya where he emphasized the critical role that the capital markets have to play in Africa's economic development.
Commenting on the election of the new president, the out-going president of ASEA and the Chief Executive, Stock Exchange of Mauritius, Mr. Sunil Benimadhu, said "I welcome the newly elected president and committee members, and we look forward to ASEA's continuing progress as it seeks to enhance the global competitiveness of Member Exchanges".
In his welcome remarks, Onyema stated, "I am honoured to be elected president of ASEA which is the largest platform for Africa's stock, futures and options exchanges. I would like to thank the outgoing Executive Committee led by Mr. Benimadhu for their stewardship of the Association over the last two years, and I look forward to working with ASEA members, our global counterparts and regulators to contribute to the association's rich legacy, as well as to promoting our markets in a broad range of areas".
To support the Association's mission and vision, Mr. Onyema highlighted four key strategic objectives that the new Executive Committee will focus on to support the effective mobilization of capital for economic development:
- Strengthen the Association's governance, financial and reporting framework;
- Promote the sustainable development of African capital markets;
- Facilitate an increase in market access at the regional level, and promote cross-listing among African exchanges; and
- Align the goals of African capital markets with those of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The Members of the new Executive Committee are the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), Casablanca Stock Exchange (CASA), The Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE), Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Mr. Karim Hajji, the Chief Executive Officer of the Casablanca Stock Exchange, is the Deputy President of the Association.
MR. OSCAR ONYEMA, ASEA PRESIDENT
Mr. Oscar Onyema has previously served on the ASEA Executive Committee as the Deputy President. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and member of the National Council in April 2011. Under his stewardship, the NSE became a member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) on October 28, 2014.
Mr. Onyema has over 20 years of experience in both the financial and information technology sectors. He is the Chairman, West African Capital Market Integration Council; Chairman of Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS), the clearing house for the Nigerian capital market; Council member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers of Nigeria (CIS), and a Global Agenda Council member of the World Economic Forum. Mr. Onyema also serves on the boards of all NSE subsidiaries, as well as the FMDQ OTC Plc (FMDQ) board.
ABOUT ASEA
The African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) is the premier Association of 23 securities exchanges in Africa. ASEA aims at developing Member Exchanges, enhancing the global competitiveness of Member Exchanges and providing a platform for networking and exchange of information.
Established in 1993, ASEA works with African Member Exchanges to unlock potential of the African Capital Markets by;
- Enhancing the visibility of ASEA members at the international level with a view to attract capital inflows to African capital markets
- Providing an authoritative information portal on African public markets and aggregated statistics and information on African Exchanges
- Being a powerful lobbying and advocacy voice for Member Exchanges
- Promoting market development among Member Exchanges
- Promoting Capacity Building and Training for Member Exchanges
- Initiating Strategic Alliances on behalf of Member Exchanges
