Maxwell Opoku-Afari: The impact of ABSA Financial Markets Index on economic policy dialogue in Ghana

Opening speech by Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, at the launch of Guidelines for Repurchase Agreements in Ghana, Accra, 17 October 2019.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Salutations

I welcome you to this occasion of the launch of Guidelines for Repurchase Agreements in Ghana.

1. Purpose and rationale behind the Guidelines:

A 2017 Barclays Africa (now ABSA) African Financial Markets Index, noted that of the six pillars they used in the assessment of African financial markets, improving the legal and regulatory frameworks through establishing the legality and enforceability of standard financial markets master agreements of the Ghanaian financial markets could provide a major boost and enhance liquidity in the bonds and equities markets.

The results of the Barclays survey noted that in Ghana, ISDA documentation (International Swap and Derivatives Association) was well recognized but Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) was in limited use, Global Master Securities Lending Agreement (GMSLA) was rarely used and the insolvency framework needed to be strengthened. Therefore in 2017, a stakeholder committee in Ghana, led by the central bank agreed on a simple regulatory environment by following the international 'norm' but customizing it to the local environment.