The last two decades have witnessed a rapid growth of stock markets in emerging economies both in terms of number and market capitalization. The proliferation of stock exchanges in Africa indicate that a number of countries now consider them as one facet of a wider strategy for developing national, and even regional, economies. The International Finance Corporation (1998) (IFC) commented that this growth proves that these markets have "come out of their own" as places to invest and to raise capital. According to Khan and Senhadji (2000), the evolution of emerging stock markets has had a positive impact on the operations of banking institutions and on economic promotion and hence their role should not be ignored.