June 15, 2017 - Mr. Hongyuan HUANG, CEO of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Dr. Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE, CEO of the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the presence of Mr. Pierre Atépa GOUDIABY, Chairman of the BRVM.
The MoU covers the following areas: (i) the development of the equity and debt markets; (ii) the creation of new financial products; (iii) the improvement of existing trading platforms and market surveillance tools; (iv) cross-listing; (v) the exchange of information and documentation; and (vi) experience sharing in adopting and implementing international stock exchange standards.
By joining forces with the SSE, the world's fourth largest financial place after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the BRVM will tap on SSE’s experience and its technological advances. The partnership aims to encourage Chinese pension funds, insurance companies, banks and individual investors to access and invest in companies listed on The BRVM in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) financial market. WAEMU regional institutions and governments may consider also in the future issuing "Panda Bonds" to raise additional resources to finance their economies.
The MoU was signed following a strategic dialogue held at the SSE and attended by Chinese financial market stakeholders (brokers, asset managers, institutional investors and individuals), Chinese companies operating in Africa and WAEMU’s financial market actors such as ECOBANK Group.
The BRVM becomes one of the first African stock exchanges after The Egyptian Stock Exchange (June 2007); The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (April 2012) and The Nairobi Stock Exchange (August 2013), and the first West Africa stock exchange to sign a MoU with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
About the Shanghai Stock Exchange
The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) was founded on November 26th, 1990 and started its operations on December 19th the same year. It is a membership institution directly governed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
The SSE bases its development on the principle of "legislation, supervision, self-regulation and standardization" to create a transparent, open, safe and efficient marketplace. After 27 years of development, it has evolved into a strong market structure with four main categories of securities: stocks, bonds, funds and derivatives.
As of December 31st, 2016, SSE has 1,266 listed companies with a market capitalization of US $ 4,103 billion and a total value traded of US $ 7,232 billion.
About BRVM
The Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM – Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières) was created on December 18th, 1996 in Cotonou (BENIN). It is a fully integrated electronic exchange with 8 member countries from West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. In addition to Equity instruments (shares), the BRVM offers the issuing and trading of Debt instruments (bonds).
The BRVM offers to investors a world-class trading environment with state-of-the-art trading and settlement systems. BRVM is Member of the Executive Committee of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA) and is Chairman of the West African Capital Markets Integration Council (WACMIC). Since November 2016, it has been included in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.
The BRVM ended 2016 with a market capitalization of US $12.86 billion with 43 listed companies and a traded value of US $ 687.59 million.
www.brvm.org