AfDB Rallies African Stock Exchanges to Shape a New Financial Architecture for the Continent

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Tuesday opened a series of high-level meetings with development finance institutions and private-sector partners aimed at delivering a transformative blueprint for a New African Financial Architecture—an ambitious framework designed to narrow the continent’s longstanding development financing gap.

The two-day consultations, hosted at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan at the invitation of its president, Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, have drawn more than 50 representatives from regional and continental banks and development finance institutions. Dr. Ould Tah described the talks as crucial to Africa’s economic future.

“As the architects of Africa's capital markets, you are custodians of financial institutions and catalysts of our continent’s future,” he told delegates during the opening session, which brought together leaders of African securities exchanges, private equity firms, and venture capital funds.

This is the Bank’s first formal engagement with African stock exchanges at such a scale, and the discussions centre on the long-term reform of capital mobilisation across the continent. Dr. Felix Edoh Kossi Amenounve, CEO of the West African Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM), welcomed the initiative, stressing the urgency of structural change.

“There are gaps between financing needs and available resources, but we need to think about the reforms needed to achieve the capitalisation of African pension funds. Because these funds were originally created to finance governments,” Amenounve said.

Participating institutions include the African Exchange Linkage Project (AELP), Rwanda Stock Exchange, Mozambique Stock Exchange, Cabo Verde Stock Exchange, Nairobi Stock Exchange, Tunis Stock Exchange, BRVM, the Central African Stock Exchange, Casablanca Stock Exchange and the Ghana Stock Exchange.

“The capital markets are the bedrock upon which long-term, sustainable economic growth is built,” Dr. Ould Tah noted. “By mobilizing patient capital, you provide our sovereigns and businesses with diversified funding sources, while offering investors, particularly institutional investors, a broader array of opportunities.”

Central to the Bank president’s Four Cardinal Points, introduced after he assumed office in September, is the drive to secure predictable and affordable long-term financing for African economies.

The meetings also aim to accelerate financial flows to private equity and venture capital funds by strengthening existing African investment vehicles and expanding their ability to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), mid-market companies, and emerging industrial players. SMEs account for almost 90% of African businesses and more than 60% of jobs, yet still struggle with access to risk capital.

Delegates discussed a wide range of priorities, including sustainable finance, digitalisation of markets, attracting greater capital to African exchanges, and designing programmes tailored to SMEs. Stock exchange leaders also emphasised the importance of boosting financial literacy among young people and expanding the use of digital platforms and fintech solutions to unlock new opportunities.