Addis Ababa, 11 June 2026 — The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), FSD Africa, the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority (ECMA) and FSD Ethiopia convened the inaugural East Africa Regional Regulator Roundtable on 10–11 June 2026 in Addis Ababa. The event brought together capital market and pension regulators from across East Africa for two days of structured peer learning, honest dialogue, and practical problem-solving.
The roundtable took place at a defining moment for regional financial markets. Across East Africa, capital markets are being asked to do more: mobilise domestic resources, attract long-term investment, absorb new financial products and technologies, and build the kind of investor confidence that sustains growth. Regulators, the gathering affirmed, sit at the centre of that transition and no single market can navigate it alone.
Opening the roundtable, ECMA Director General Hana Tehelku called on participants to move beyond legacy regulatory approaches. "We must master domestic resource mobilisation, deepen our financial markets, and create seamless channels for long-term capital to fund our region's growth," she said, pointing to Ethiopia's own capital market journey, from a standing start to a ten-year Master Plan and live securities exchange, as proof of what deliberate regional collaboration can achieve.
ECA's representative, Sonia Essombaje of the Financing for Development and Resource Mobilisation Section, underscored the Commission's commitment to Ethiopia's capital market development and highlighted three priorities: reforms that unlock early impact and build market confidence; strong alignment across regulators, issuers, investors and intermediaries; and, above all, execution.
FSD Africa's Principal Specialist for Capital Markets, Mary Njuguna, framed the roundtable's broader purpose: "A good regulator doesn't stop the game, they just make sure nobody's quietly moving the goalposts." She emphasised that well-functioning capital markets are not an end in themselves but the mechanism through which domestic savings are channelled into productive investment, institutional capital is unlocked at scale, and shared prosperity is made possible.
Hikmet Abdella, CEO of FSD Ethiopia, noted the timeliness of the exchange for Ethiopia specifically, a market still taking shape that has much to gain from the accumulated experience of regional peers, and much to contribute to the wider conversation.
Discussions over the two days centred on six themes: building inclusive regulatory capacity and integrating gender and sustainability considerations into market design; sharing honest lessons on regulatory reform; leveraging SupTech for sharper market surveillance; mobilising pension funds and unlocking institutional capital for alternative investments; advancing cross-border cooperation and regional integration; and identifying concrete next steps for technical assistance and knowledge exchange.
The roundtable is the first in a series of similar convenings planned across the continent, with the ambition of building regulatory systems that support deeper, more inclusive, and better-integrated capital markets across Africa.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org