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Dr Adu Anane Antwi (AAA), the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is passionate about encouraging the savings culture among Ghanaians.

Under his leadership, the Commission is carrying out several initiatives such as the establishment of the Ghana Alternative Market; the Promotion of Exchange Traded Funds; intense Investor Education; the Amendment of the Securities Industry Act; the establishment of a Commodity Exchange; the Promotion of Credit Rating Agencies and Real Estate Investment Funds.

Samuel Doe Ablordeppey of the GRAPHIC BUSINESS (GB) caught up with him and asked him whether the SEC has really achieved the principal aims for which it was set up.

AAA: The Commission was established and mandated among other things to create the necessary atmosphere for the orderly growth and development of the securities market, license and supervise market operators, protect the integrity of the market, and protect investors. 

The commission has been able to deliver on its mandate and therefore achieved the principal reasons for its establishment. Our mandate is ongoing so we keep on working towards achieving our vision which is to be an internationally recognised securities market regulator, promoting efficient capital market in Ghana and ensuring investor protection.

GB: For you at the helm of affairs, what would be your pick of the top three achievements of the Commission?

AAA: The commission has recorded some significant achievements and it is somehow difficult to pick what will be considered as the top three. However, the first I will pick is our qualification and admission in May 2000 into membership of the International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO), the global standard setting body for securities regulators, within one and half years of full commencement of operations.

We were able to develop our regulatory system to meet the standards required by IOSCO within that short period of time. The qualification for IOSCO membership enhanced the image of Ghana in the global capital market.

The second I will pick is the introduction and promotion of collective investment schemes (mutual funds and unit trusts) in the country. Collective investment schemes were introduced to demystify the capital market as a preserve for the elite and to encourage the ordinary Ghanaian to invest in the capital market.

As of now, these schemes have been able to mobilise about GH¢600 million for investment. 

The third I will pick is the education of investors and the general public through various means; including the organisation of capital market week, capital market conference, and capital market quiz for senior high schools (the quiz started with the Greater Accra Region and we plan to make it national from next year).

GB: Our capital market has evolved over the years. We've seen listing and de-listing. Can we say that market is achieving its full potential?

AAA: Our market is a developing one. On the Ghana Stock Exchange, we started with 11 listed companies almost 25 years ago and now we have 35 listed companies.

Listings have generally not been encouraging in terms of numbers, but the market has attracted large foreign companies such as AngloGold Ashanti, Tullow Oil, Golden Star Resources, boosting the market capitilisation of the exchange.

Last year, we worked with the GSE to launch the Ghana Alternative Exchange (GAX) to encourage raising of capital and listing on the Exchange by small and medium enterprise (SMEs).

GB: The low activity and liquidity on the GSE have been a source of concern for many investors and listed companies alike. How can the situation be improved? Who has to play what role?

AAA: We are all concerned about the low activity and liquidity on the exchange. You may be aware that the public float on the GSE is 25 per cent, which means that when a company is held 100 per cent by a person and the person decides to list the company on the exchange, the person can sell only 25 per cent of the shares in the company to the public. The original owner of the company would want to hold on to the 75 per cent stake and is not likely to trade in the shares.

This makes only the 25 per cent public float available for trading. Out of this, 25 per cent are also shares held by individuals and other institutions such as pension funds, which hold shares generally for the cash flow from dividends.
The percentage of shares in many of the companies on the GSE that regularly trades is, therefore, very low and results in low activity and liquidity on the exchange.

For investors who buy and sell, the introduction of the automated trading system has helped them to do that faster and this improves activity and liquidity on the exchange.

To increase the number of shares that may be available for trading on the exchange, the GSE has introduced a requirement of 100 million minimum shares for listed companies. Listed companies are being encouraged to issue more bonus shares to substantially increase their shares.

To improve activity and liquidity on the market, the commission has introduced securities lending and borrowing, market making, and margin trading in the Securities Industry Bill which has received Cabinet approval.
We are also encouraging more listings on the GSE to help improve activity and liquidity on the exchange.

GB: You have been an advocate of legislating the compulsory listing of large foreign corporations so as to share their pies with Ghanaians and also serve as a measure against capital flights and a buffer to the local currency. Are we going to see such a move or legislation anytime soon?

AAA: In my view, we need to get large foreign companies to float part of their shares to the Ghanaian public. Some people are not comfortable with using legislation to ensure that, but we can adopt a policy that will ensure that.
For such large foreign companies operating in sectors such as telecommunication, oil and gas, mining, banking and insurance that require licensing, we can make the flotation of 25 per cent of their shares as part of their licence renewal after operating for about five years.


For people who argue that public floatation is a corporate finance decision of the firm so we should allow these companies to decide whether to list or not, let me say to them that they should consider the effect of the large foreign currency out flow and the repatriation of the total dividends of these companies have on our economy. When these companies float part of their shares to the Ghanaian public, part of the dividends they declare will be paid in cedis to Ghanaians. For example, if a fully foreign-owned company currently declares GH¢1 million dividend, it has to transfer the GH¢1 million in foreign currency outside the country, if the same company had floated 25 per cent of its shares to Ghanaians, it would be transferring GH¢750,000 in foreign currency outside the country reducing the country’s demand for foreign currency. 

I think we should all join in calling for such a policy and I believe our policy makers will in the end act to make that happen.

GB: You're one of few persons who have achieved a lot academically and as a private consultant. What does it take to be that focused on one's dreams and visions? What has been your motivation?

AAA: “You can get it if you really want, but you must try, try and try, you will succeed at last”. That is what I believe in, and if I set myself a goal, I cannot be discouraged.


After completing middle school, I neither got the opportunity to continue my education nor learn a trade and had to take to doing menial jobs in my hometown, including working as a farm labourer. I was determined to improve my life and so saved money to be able to settle in Accra and search for work. I got employed as a factory floor worker, working on day, afternoon and night shifts.

I did not want to remain a factory floor worker, so in 1978 I started using my evenings to study accountancy subjects. I passed two papers, accounting and arithmetic, in the Royal Society of Arts (RSA II) examination in 1979 and got a job as an accounts clerk in a one-man trading enterprise and continued with my studies.

While undertaking my studies, I visited the campus of the University of Ghana. As a business student, the first place I went was the School of Administration, University of Ghana (now University of Ghana Business School), where I told myself “one day I will be here”.
I bought a foolscap note book from the University Bookshop that day, filled in my name on the note book and wrote “School of Administration, University of Ghana” at the school column.

I set myself the goal of attaining higher heights in education and continued with my studies passing various examinations and gaining admission to study Administration at the University of Ghana, through Workers College, as a part-time student in 1985. At the time I entered the university, I was married and had a child.

After my first degree in 1989, I studied for my MBA in 1992, and after that studied privately to write the professional examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, I involved myself in part-time lecturing, taking a break from studies, but having my eyes on further studies in law or doctorate in administration.

In 2003, I gained admission to the Ghana School of Law for a four-year studies to qualify as a lawyer in 2007. After that what remained for me to achieve was to study for a doctorate degree, and this I was able to complete in 2014.
I have the “I can do” spirit, and that urges me on always in whatever I set myself to do.

GB: Tell us a little about your upbringing and principles that have shaped u?

AAA: I was born on 14th December 1956 at Anyinam-Kotoku, near Akim-Oda in the Eastern Region to the late Mr Albert Yaw Broni Antwi and Madam Mercy Ntiamoah (aka Akua Kumiwaa) all of Anyinam-Kotoku. My father worked as pupil teacher and later as a farmer, while my mother worked as a trader and a farmer.

I was the fourth of eleven children between my parents. I was born into the Methodist Church as my parents were both staunch members of the Church. I started my primary education at the Roman Catholic Primary School at Ntobroso, near Nkawie in the Ashanti Region, where my father had settled to seek healing to an illness.

I continue my primary education from class five at the Methodist Primary School, Anyinam-Kotoku after returning with my parents and siblings to our home town. At that time my father’s cocoa farms had been neglected for a long time and my father had to build a farm in his largest farm where we all stayed and walked to and from school.

As a child, I was taught the Christian way of life and also went through the strict disciplinary code of my father, who would not spare the rod anytime any of my siblings and I went wrong.

While at the middle school, my desire was to become a medical officer. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to attend secondary school in 1971 to study science after passing the common entrance examination, due to lack of financial support.

As a middle school leaver in 1972 with no financial support to further my education or learn a trade, I undertook menial jobs, including working as a farm labourer in my hometown before settling in Accra in July 1975 to search for a job. I got my first job in September 1975 as a factory floor worker.

GB: Any one important message for Ghanaians?

AAA: My message to all Ghanaians it that no one should just hope for the future, but plan for it by spending wisely and saving part of what he or she earns today for investment in order to have a secured future.