Towards Regional Financial Integration in the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS): The Case of One Common Currency, The Eko.
William Kwame Eduful Dadson, Ph.D, CSL

Abstract
ECOWAS is in the process of integrating its financial systems. The advancement of financial system integration has become widely perceived as critical, especially under regional economic community arrangements. Thus, it is expected that the integration of financial systems in ECOWAS would be useful as it would help address the limitations associated with market fragmentation. The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges of Financial Integration, risks of Integration and policy implications for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A regional financial integration system is defined as a process in which neighboring states enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. Various forms of actual financial integration include: Information sharing among financial institutions; sharing of best practices among financial institutions; sharing of cutting-edge technologies among financial institutions; firms borrow and raise funds direct. Financial integration in the emerging and developing economies has been driven by a belief that in addition to enhancing the quality of macroeconomic management, it facilitates economic growth and reduces volatility owing to its tendency to pool risks across borders. It became clear during our research that this process remains at an early stage, and has not kept pace with the integration of the real economy of the region.

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