‘Intensify public education on stock trading’

President of the Association of Shareholders of the Stock Exchange Market, Ghana, Sas George has called for nationwide public education about activities on the Stock Exchange Market in the country.

Mr. George made the call in an interview with BUSINESS GUIDE on the sidelines of a panel discussion held at the Alisa Hotel on Tuesday in Accra under the theme: “10 years of Depository Services in Ghana: Achievements and Challenges.”

The event formed part of the 10th anniversary of the Central Securities Depository (CSD).

According to him, many Ghanaians were not aware of stock trading in the country.

“I have gone round the entire country and realized that a lot of Ghanaians, including even teachers do not know about the existence of the Stock Exchange Market in the country, he told this paper.

The situation, he claimed, was due to “lack of intensive public education about what stock exchange trading means.”

He urged the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the Ghana Stock Exchange (GES), the CSD and the Securities and Exchange Commission to encourage rural banks to list their assets on the stock market.

Managing Director of GES, Kofi S. Yamoah, during the discussion, urged telecommunication companies in the country to list on the nation’s stock market.

He stated that the activities of the stock market were not reflective of happenings in the economy because “most multinationals particularly telcos and some big cocoa purchasing companies are not listing their assets on the country’s stock market but rather the international stock markets.

Stephen Tetteh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CSD, said his outfit, which holds securities for investors in electronic form, had managed to register 65,000 accounts for shareholders over the last 10 years.

He said CSD would do everything possible to improve investor confidence in the market, adding that “we are in the process of integrating the stock markets of West Africa to enable us have a wider market.”