Cost efficiency in the African securities settlement and depository industry

This paper examines the potential of economies of scale and scope among the African central
securities depository institutions. We address whether the consolidation of settlement and custody activities of securities make these institutions efficient in light of the costs of service parameter. To do this, we rely on the translog cost function [introduced by Christensen et al. (1971)] and the constant elasticity of substitution of seven central securities depositories in Africa over the period 2004-2009.
The results show the existence of significant economies of scale and scope in these institutions. The extent of these economies differs upon the size of the institution and the level of automation mechanisms to combine securities settlement and custody activities. Our findings also indicate that, unlike large institutions in countries such as South Africa and Mauritius, which have heavily invested in automation mechanisms, smaller institutions have higher service costs, which implies a need for consolidation of activities to reduce these costs.