Top executives of the custody, settlement and post-trade industry are gathering for their annual Africa summit on 7-8 April. The Network Forum (TNF) Africa is a top-class meeting point for both buyside and the sellside of the investment industry, focusing on big institutional money flowing to Africa and discussing market developments, regulatory, risk control, and all aspects of keeping investments safe and funds flowing once the on-market trade is completed.

This year’s conference, held in London, will feature CEOs of securities exchanges, CSDs and other institutions, over 100 network managers, Chief Operating Officers, direct custody providers, Financial Market Infrastructure providers (FMIs) and FinTech innovators.

Participants include Agent Banks, Network Managers, Investors, CSDs, Exchanges, Regulators, FinTechs, Market Experts and Commentators from the following countries: South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius, Cote d’Ivoire, UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Canada and more..

The TNF Africa conference is organized as part of The Network Forum’s global conferences. TNF is a curated global community for the custody, settlement and post-trade industry. Its key aim is to provide a structured networking environment for this tight-knit industry group, in which key issues are discussed, developments are communicated and best practice shared.

Speakers and presenters this year include:

• Securities exchanges: Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), The Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Nairobi Securities Exchange, Rwanda Stock Exchange
• Central Depositories presenting include CDSC Kenya, Strate in South Africa, Central Securities Clearing System Nigeria, the Egypt Central Securities Depository, CDS (Mauritius)
• Regulators include: Financial Regulatory Authority of Egypt, Capital Market Authority (Rwanda)
• System providers include: GMEX Group, Montran
• Banks: BNP Paribas, BNY (Bank of New York Mellon), Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mauritius Commercial Bank, Rand Merchant Bank, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and State Street,
• FMIs include Euroclear, The ValueExchange
• Asset managers on the agenda include: Aberdeen Asset Management
• Top industry consultants include Selloua Chakri (SCL Advisory), Mark Kerns (Adapa Advisory).

Agenda: Growth, but with challenges

Here are some of the topics for the discussions:

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies may be growing, but the region faces obstacles ahead. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), SSA is expected to see GDP growth of 4.2% in 2025, a modest increase from 3.6% in 2024. As with markets elsewhere, SSA remains acutely vulnerable to macro headwinds, with inflation in many of these countries running at double digits. Although public debt is stabilizing in SSA, the cost of servicing that debt is increasing, which – again – could put the brakes on growth moving forward.

SSA is facing some fairly serious exogenous risks too, a consequence of regional and global instability , including events in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the War in Ukraine, etc, but also due to the unpredictable nature of the second Trump administration.

South Africa, in particular, has been on the receiving end of a number of President Trump’s bruising outbursts. Having suspended aid to South Africa, there are mounting fears the country could lose its privileged access to the US market through its special US-Africa trade programme, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.

Expect the next few years to be rather volatile for SSA, as our speakers will surely point out.

A changing post-trade environment

As with many other regions, SSA is dealing with some familiar post-trade issues. The move to T+1 and its impact on Africa will feature at TNF. With North America now live with T+1 and Europe migrating from October 2027, experts anticipate more markets – including those in Africa – will follow. The question, however, is when. A handful of markets, including Nigeria, have said they are open to T+1, but they will not adopt it unless there is wider industry support.

Digitalisation will also be a recurrent theme at TNF Africa. Although SSA accounts for a fraction of overall digital asset ownership, local investors are reasonably bullish on crypto-currencies and StableCoins, with many seeing them as safe haven assets, particularly as many countries in the region are struggling with currency volatility and FX shortages.

For more information and conference booking, see TNF Africa website here.