Three years after launch, the African Exchanges Linkage Project (AELP) has generated just 21 transactions and 6,160 shares traded, worth $8,670 as of 1 January 2026 – a symbolic volume for a platform meant to connect a continent. Africa’s stock exchanges remain fragmented, with different listing rules, disclosure standards and settlement systems limiting cross‑border investment and regional liquidity. Most equity and bond trading still happens domestically. As Pan-African banks, telecoms and infrastructure groups are actively looking to raise capital domestically across jurisdictions, how can stock exchanges strip away multiple listing costs and regulatory complexity?
Key points:
- How far should exchanges go on mutual recognition of listings, prospectuses and corporate governance codes?
- What incentives would push major corporates and investors to treat African securities as a single integrated asset class?
- What technology and data standards are needed to link trading, clearing and central securities depositories across multiple African markets?