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The African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), an association of 28 African securities exchanges, has elected a new president. The Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyema, who has served as President of ASEA for two terms of two years each since November 2014, has been succeeded by Karim Hajji, Chief Executive Officer of the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

Until his appointment, Hajji served as the Vice President of ASEA. Succeeding him as vice president is Edoh Kossi Amenounve, Managing Director of the Bourse Régionale des Valuers Mobilières (BRVM), a regional stock exchange serving Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Speaking at the 22nd ASEA Annual Conference, which held in Lagos on November 26-27, Hajji said, “I believe that through advocacy and strategic lobbying, ASEA will be able to unlock opportunities for the much-needed liquidity in the African financial markets.”

ASEA is governed by an eight-member executive committee, led by the President and Vice President. Other executive members are Nicky Newton-King, CEO of Johannesburg Stock Exchange; Koffi Yamoah, CEO of Ghana Stock Exchange; Pierre Celestin, CEO of Rwanda Stock Exchange; Geoffrey Odundo, CEO of Nairobi Securities Exchange; Mohammed Farid, Chairman of Egyptian Exchange; and Thapelo Tsheole, CEO of Botswana Stock Exchange.

According to Onyema, the theme of the conference, Champions on the Rise: Africa’s Ascension to a More Sustainable Future, underpins the need for operators of African capital markets to fully embrace sustainable business practices and the opportunities and risks presented by the fourth industrial revolution.

“Our strategic relationships have resulted in grants worth approximately $1.2 million from the Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Africa and the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) fund via the Africa Development Bank (AfDB),” said the CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

He added that the elevation of ASEA’s profile on the global stage and the expansion of the portfolio of strategic relationships and alliances are some of the achievements of the association over the last few years.

Established in 1993, ASEA aims to enable African Securities Exchange to become key drivers of the economic and societal transformation of Africa by 2025. In addition to its 28 members, ASEA has five associate and observer members, including the South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE), Chartered Institute of Securities Investment (CISI) and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).