03 Jul 2023

Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) has fully attained membership of World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).

WFE is the global industry association of exchanges and clearing houses around the world and represents 250 market infrastructure providers ranging from those that operate the largest financial centres to those that run frontier markets with its members domiciled.

Speaking during the BSE bell ringing ceremony which signaled the beginning of trading session, BSE Board Member, Professor Onkutlwile Othata said the BSE joined WFE in 2016 as an affiliate member and commenced membership upgrade process from affiliate to full member in 2022.

“This was a very rigorous process that involved a comprehensive and thorough evaluation of the exchange, the quality and depth of the Botswana market, the regulatory environment, information technology infrastructure, risk management strategies as well as anti-money laundering practices, among others,” he said.The admittance of BSE as a full member, Prof Othata said was an important recognition as the exchange aimed to integrate into global financial markets with its internationalisation strategy.

He said the strategy sought to elevate BSE to a world class securities exchange that conformed to international best practices.

“The BSE’s elevation to full member status evidences the integrity and standard of our supervisory authorities and our key stakeholder being the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

Prof Othata said BSE information and market statistics would be disseminated through WFE network which promoted the local bourse as an ideal investment destination. He additionally said WFE full membership would favour BSE to align with international best practice in the global securities and exchange as BSE continuously lived its vision to be a world-class securities exchange.

With regards to BSE Market Performance for the period January 1 to June 22, 2023, Prof Othata reported of P410million of equity trading which translated to an average daily turnover of P3.5 million.“Market Capitalisation amounts to P391 billion across 23 listed domestic companies and seven foreign companies.”

On the debt market, Prof Othata said government bonds had traded P760 million, while corporate bonds traded P29 million.

This translates to a total amount traded of P788 million. Currently, there are seven government bonds and 39 corporate bonds listed with a market capitalization of approximately P25.1 Billion.ENDS