By 
The African Development Bank Group has rejoined the Currency Exchange Fund (TCX) as a shareholder through a $25 million equity investment, signalling a major push to expand currency risk mitigation tools across Africa’s underserved markets.
The signing ceremony took place at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, marking the Bank Group’s return to the global fund it helped establish nearly two decades ago.
Breaking the Currency Barrier
The investment, structured in two tranches, will strengthen TCX’s capital base and enhance its capacity to offer hedging instruments for illiquid and frontier African currencies. These are markets where conventional currency risk solutions are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
Currency mismatch has long been identified as a structural driver of debt distress across the continent. By expanding access to hedging, the AfDB aims to reduce this vulnerability and unlock more resilient financing for African borrowers.
Crowding In Capital, Crowding Out Risk
The equity participation is expected to catalyse additional investment from development finance institutions and private investors. It will support local currency financing across critical sectors including:
- Infrastructure and energy
- Microfinance and SMEs
- Public sector programmes
The AfDB’s Board approved the investment on 17 September 2025.
‘A Shared Conviction’: AfDB Rejoins Founding Mission
Akane Zoukpo Sanankoua, AfDB Division Manager for Capital Markets Development, signed on behalf of the Bank.
“This investment marks the Bank’s return to TCX as a shareholder and reflects our strong confidence in its development mandate and impact. With this investment, we are supporting more resilient financing for African economies and reducing currency mismatch—one of the structural drivers of debt distress.”
The African Development Bank was a founding shareholder of TCX in 2007.
TCX: Two Decades of Currency Innovation
TCX’s investor base includes Dutch development bank FMO, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) , the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) , the European Investment Bank (EIB) , KfW, the European Commission, and the governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
Since its inception, TCX has:
- Hedged over $19 billion globally in notional amounts
- Deployed $4.7 billion across 31 African countries
- Maintained a strong footprint in fragile and low-income markets
What TCX and Partners Say
Ruurd Brouwer, CEO of TCX, welcomed the AfDB’s return:
“We are proud to welcome the African Development Bank back as a shareholder. The Bank was one of TCX’s founding investors in 2007, and its return reflects a shared conviction that currency risk mitigation is essential to unlocking resilient financing across Africa. With the Bank’s unparalleled presence across the continent, we can together ensure that investments in Africa’s future are free from currency risk.”
Jerome Larosch, Head of Division, International Financial Institutions at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also welcomed the strengthened cooperation:
“We are very proud to see that two of our close partners, the African Development Bank and TCX, are intensifying their collaboration. Through this new investment, the African Development Bank shows that it is committed to our joint goals for sustainable development on the African continent. As a government we believe that innovations like TCX are an excellent addition to the efforts of multilateral development banks, and we applaud this shared agenda.”
Strategic Alignment
The investment directly supports the AfDB’s Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033) and its broader capital markets agenda, which includes:
- Developing local currency bond markets
- Deploying credit enhancement solutions
- Expanding private sector financing in local currency
By addressing currency risk at the systemic level, the AfDB is positioning local currency financing not as an exception, but as the foundation of Africa’s sustainable investment architecture.
