Kampala, Uganda, December 2, 2010 –
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Securities Industry Training Institute (SITI) today signed an agreement that will broaden training opportunities for market participants, regulators and others in East Africa’s capital markets sector, strengthening and supporting the growth of securities markets in the region.
Under the agreement, SITI will be licensed to use IFC-developed securities markets training material for 10 years. SITI will use the material, developed by the Efficient Securities Markets Institutional Development (ESMID) Program, to train and certify thousands of securities market participants in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Aida Kimemia, IFC Principal Investment Officer, said, “Supporting the development of securities markets is a priority for IFC in Africa. This agreement will make available world-class training materials to thousands of people in East Africa, improving their skills and knowledge and giving them the tools that will support broad economic growth in the region.”
Joseph S. Kitamirike, Chairman SITI board and CEO, Uganda Securities Exchange, said,”We at SITI are very pleased to have cooperated with IFC to develop the training materials. We know that they are cutting edge and will help us develop the personnel we need to grow the securities markets in East Africa. On the strength of this successful cooperation with IFC, we are confident we will undertake more activities of this nature that will ensure proper market development."
The ESMID Program – a joint project by the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
,
IFC
and the
World Bank
– aims to help develop well functioning securities markets in Africa, with a goal of supporting key economic and social development needs with high developmental impact, such as infrastructure, housing, and microfinance.
ESMID helps simplify regulations and procedures for issuing and trading bonds; strengthen market infrastructure; build capacity of market participants; facilitate the regionalization of securities markets; and support demonstration transactions.
In East Africa, ESMID works with central banks, securities regulators, stock exchanges, and market participants, such as brokers, dealers, investment banks, and institutional investors. ESMID played a central role helping establish the Securities Industry Training Institute, which coordinates the training and certification of market participants in East Africa.
The ESMID-developed training material consists of three courses and five seminars: Fundamentals Securities Course; Securities Certification Course; Officers and Directors Course; Bond Trading Seminar; Corporate Finance Seminar; Corporate Governance Seminar; Bond Underwriting Seminar; and Portfolio Management Seminar.
The courses, which will be required for licensing of market intermediaries, have already benefitted more than 700 course participants in East Africa.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives—by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and provide essential services, mobilizing capital from others, and delivering advisory and risk-management services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
