Baroness Chapman’s speech on domestic capital markets at the Global Partnerships Conference 20 May 2026

A warm welcome to this session on domestic capital markets.

I should begin with a few thank yous – to colleagues across government, to our development and private-sector partners, and to everyone who has helped bring this session together.

And a particular thank you to our panellists – including His Excellency Taiwo Oyedele Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso – and senior finance leaders – for joining us to share practical lessons.

We have just come from a discussion on fiscal resilience – where we heard, again, how constrained public and global finance mean governments cannot do any of this this alone.

So, this session is about what comes next – how domestic savings and private capital can do more of the heavy lifting for growth, jobs and resilience.

Domestic capital markets matter because they mobilise long-term, local-currency finance…

Allocate domestic savings more productively…

And they reduce reliance on capital flows they don’t control – which ultimately supports growth and resilience and helps us deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.

There is over two trillion dollars of assets under management in Africa alone. So this represents a real opportunity. 

But in many developing economies, capital markets remain shallow, and large pools of domestic capital are servicing sovereign debt rather than financing productive investment.

The good news is that there is growing political momentum for country-led reform – not least South Africa’s leadership on this agenda during its G20 Presidency.

In this session, we’ll hear from political leaders, policymakers, regulators, investors and partners on the reforms and solutions that can make a difference.

And we’ll do that through two panels.

We’ll first hear about advancing reform – the political vision for deeper domestic capital markets, the institutions and regulation that build confidence, and actions that make them stick.

Then we’ll look at how to scale vehicles that unlock domestic institutional capital – and what it will take to move from a handful of pilots to full platforms that can be replicated.

From the UK’s perspective we want to be – and we really strive to be – a trusted partner to nationally-led reform agendas. Bringing finance, convening power and practical expertise to help turn ambition into investable reality.

You will hear today from some of our speakers about effective partnerships in action. The work between FSD Africa and Ethiopia, standing to stand up a new stock securities exchange in Addis Ababa…

The Growth Investment Partnership in Zambia, anchored by BII and mobilising more than $17 million from local pension funds.

And the work of PIDG to roll-out new credit enhancement vehicles, bringing private finance in to fund national infrastructure.

They all have great stories to tell.

And from a UK perspective, we want to help develop more of them – including through our Communities of Expertise, where we are drawing on UK expertise to help countries strengthen their market regulation and fiscal resilience.…

And through our industry-led EMDE Investor Taskforce, which I convene with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

The Taskforce brings key players together – investors, credit rating agencies and regulators – to reduce frictions, make investments easier, and bring down the cost of capital.

They’re doing great work, and we – alongside FSD Africa, PIDG, CIFF and QCF – are ready to help bring that idea to other places, where partners would find that useful, in the form of potential ’domestic investor taskforces’.

So, let me just finish there, and by saying – yes, this is quite a hard nut to crack. But working together, we absolutely can do it.

Thank you – and I look forward to hearing how you get on in your discussions.