The Botswana Bond Market Association (BBMA) hosts the much anticipated Bond Market Conference on 20th June 2019, at Avani in Gaborone. The conference is held under the theme “Strengthening the Bond Market to Support the Fiscus and Private Sector Development”. The theme of the conference recognizes the need to continually assess the impediments to bond market development and address them as a collective in order to create a conducive environment for bond market participants and drawing from lessons in other markets. The Bond Market Conference was last held in 2016, organized by the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and the BBMA at the time. The BSE serves as the Secretariat of the BBMA as bond market development is a strategic initiative in its 2017-2021 strategic plan. The BBMA, a non-profit association of bond market practitioners, compliments the BSE in discharging some of the initiatives encapsulated in the BSE’s strategic plan.
The conference brings together 200 delegates from the bond markets in Botswana and from across the continent. The Bank of Botswana, an advisor to Government, is represented along with the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Also present are the various practitioners in Botswana such as commercial banks, asset managers, pension funds trustees, asset consultants, law firms and issuers in the bond market.
The discussions, structured in the form of presentations and panel discussions are expected to reflect on the recent developments in the local bond market in areas of onshore and offshore issuances, efficiency of pricing bonds, enabling access to debt capital by Government-owned entities and also product innovation in the bond market. The discussions are intended to, among other things, draw lessons from emerging and frontier markets, and domesticate the lessons to further strengthen the local bond market to support Government’s strategic borrowings and private sector development.
The highlight of the conference will be the launch of the 5th anniversary publication by the BBMA, a publication that captures the end to end operations of the Botswana bond market. The publication was created with a view of enhancing awareness about the operations of the Botswana bond market, promoting the literacy among participants, scholars and students as well as to celebrate the achievements of the BBMA since its inception in 2013. The publication will be availed to the public free of charge across various platforms such as the BBMA and BSE websites and their social media platforms.
The conference is sponsored by Botlhole Law Group and Allan Gray Botswana who are Gold and Associate Sponsors respectively. Botlhole Law Group is a corporate and commercial law firm which specializes in tax law, corporate structuring, financial markets law and capital raising, among others. Allan Gray is a dedicated investment management firm with over 45 years in long term investing and long term wealth creation.