A facilitative legal and policy framework provides the foundation for an enabling capital market environment in which capital market activity can thrive. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, many countries are working to strengthen regulatory frameworks, deepen capital markets, and mobilise long-term capital to support economic development. 2

In the SADC region, capital markets have developed unevenly across Member States, with significant differences in market size, liquidity, institutional participation, and market infrastructure. While some markets have relatively established exchanges and institutional investors, others remain at an early stage of development.

At the same time, the region holds significant pools of long-term savings through pension funds, insurance institutions, and other non-bank financial institutions. Capital markets represent a critical channel for mobilising these resources, by connecting household and institutional savings to long-term productive investment and thereby supporting the region’s efforts to reduce dependence on external financing and enhance fiscal and developmental sustainability. As such, capital market development is closely linked to the broader development of the non-bank financial sector.

In 2024, CISNA resolved to undertake a regional assessment to better understand the level of development of capital markets and the position of securities markets and their regulators across SADC Member States. This assessment will address an existing knowledge gap and provide an evidence-based foundation for the development of a SADC Capital Market Master Plan aimed at strengthening capital markets and mobilising long-term capital in the region.