First licence granted for pan-African exchange operator

ALTX Africa Group, a new exchange operator focusing on East Africa, has been granted its first licence to launch a venue in Uganda.

ALTX Africa Group, a new exchange operator focusing on East Africa, has been granted its first licence to launch a venue in Uganda.

ALTX plans to launch a securities and derivatives market across the East African region and intends to widen its presence across the continent in the future.

It has also agreed to a partnership with London-based GMEX Technologies, a subsidiary of Global Markets Exchange Group (GMEX), founded by former Chi-X Europe COO, Hirander Misra.

The partnership will see ALTX use GMEX’s ForumMatch exchange trading platform, as well as its market surveillance and trader workstation technology. GMEX will set up a London routing hub to connect to ALTX and facilitate trading liquidity into Africa. It is also in talks to acquire a strategic equity stake in ALTX.

ALTX said its Ugandan exchange is expected to go live in Q4 2014 and will offer trading in cash equities and bonds, with other asset classes to follow in due course.

It said the securities sector in East Africa is showing steady growth and is undergoing significant reform due to regional efforts to create a common market thanks to the East African Community Common Market Protocol.

Africa is also benefitting from liberalisation of its pensions sector, enabling fund managers to invest in a wider range of assets.

ALTX was founded by Jatin Jivram, who previously worked in the IT and real estate sector, and Joseph Kitamirike, former CEO of Uganda Securities Exchange.

Kitamirik, CEO of ALTX, said: “We have the privilege to lead the process of interconnecting Africa’s markets, to open them up to global liquidity and to deliver market opportunities with best-in-class technology provided by GMEX.”

Kitamirik is hopeful the partnership will help bolster economic growth in Africa by easing flows of capital and increase the range of securities and derivatives available to trade in the continent. 

 

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