BRVM

The Bourse Regionale of Valeurs mobilières ( BRVM ) is the stock exchange of the West African Economic and Monetary Union ( UEMOA ). It was opened on 16 September 1998 as the world's first regional stock exchange and has its headquarters in Abidjan.

The financial center has been realized by the UEMOA and the West African Central Bank under the technical and financial support of the World Bank and the governments of France, the USA and Canada. The foundation dates back to an agreement from the year 1973 on the establishment of a regional financial market. But only in 1994 the decision was made to the financial center and entered in October 1997, after extensive negotiations, a Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets together, who prepared the opening a year later. The facility replaced the Abidjan Stock Exchange, which had ceased trading on 31 December 1997.

The market handles the trading for the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea- Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. At the BRVM 39 companies are listed and there are a total of 968 securities traded ( June 2006). The Clearing House is the Banque de Regulations. It will be offered in three trading days of the week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, the volume traded in the financial center is low.

For foreign investors, there are no restrictions, however, must be the acquisition of shares in companies that exceed the value of one percent, to be announced.

The benchmark indices offered by the stock market are the BRVM 10 and the BRVM composite. There also exist for different market segments more indexes: BRVM - Industry, BRVM - Financial, BRVM - Public, BRVM - Agriculture, BRVM - Distribution and BRVM - Other Sectors.