Leveraging Artificial Intelligence To Advance Securities Markets Development in Africa: What Are the Odds?

African securities markets, particularly sub-Saharan African securities markets, face persistent challenges that constrain their ability to support economic growth and attract investment. Among these challenges, illiquidity remains the most fundamental impediment to market development. To this end, this paper examines how artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies can be strategically deployed to address structural deficiencies in African capital markets, with particular focus on liquidity enhancement, market surveillance, price discovery, and regulatory compliance. This paper argues, leveraging recent developments in algorithmic trading, machine learning, and regulatory technology, that AI presents transformative opportunities for African stock exchanges to leapfrog traditional infrastructure constraints and build competitive, technology-enabled market ecosystems. The analysis incorporates insights from the OECD Africa Capital Markets Report 2025 and examines practical applications of AI across the securities market value chain, from pre-trade analytics to post-trade settlement. While acknowledging significant implementation challenges related to infrastructure, expertise, and regulatory frameworks, the paper concludes that targeted AI adoption can materially improve market quality and accelerate the integration of African capital markets into global financial flows.