The Ghana Stock Exchange says trading of shares of companies listed on the Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast stock markets should be possible by the end of this year. The agreement to link up the stock exchanges of the three countries to enable companies raise capital from any one of them irrespective of where they are originally listed has been underway for some time now. Deputy Managing Director of the local bourse Ekow Afedzi tells Joy Business the benefits of the integration are immense. “You can sit in Ghana and buy shares in Nigeria or La Cote d’Ivoire for your client. So for the client, it is a wider array of companies that you can invest in across West Africa,” he said. According to him, the integration will ensure improved liquidity and “it becomes easier to buy and sell in these companies. Also transparency will now become a key issue. Already [companies] do disclose [information]. But it will even become a lot more. The investor is even more protected when it comes to these things,” he said. Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana