Global Board of Trade Ltd. (GBOT), the first international multi-asset class exchange from Mauritius will now be known as BOURSE AFRICA LIMITED (BOURSE AFRICA). The change in the name symbolizes the larger focus of the exchange towards Africa and the opportunities offered by the African Financial and Commodities Markets.
The exchange was formally launched on 15th October 2010 by Dr The Honourable Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP, Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius and went live with trading on 18th October 2010. Ever since its launch, the exchange has lived the spirit of innovation through various market and product development initiatives. Some of the landmark developments at the exchange include:
- Successfully launched Contracts for Difference (CFDs) on commodities and currencies – the 1st exchange in Africa and 2nd in the world to introduce exchange traded CFDs
- Collaborated with Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to introduce African equity index futures of both exchanges
- Launched its financial markets education initiative titled “Empowerment & Development through ‘Global financial markets’ Education” (EDGE). Under the programme, over 100 workshops and seminars have been conducted in Mauritius, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria to create awareness on financial markets and educate participants
- Extended trading hours, from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm (GMT) to enable the global investment community to trade vis-à-vis international markets
- Created a modern co-location centre to provide proximity hosting for members to access market data within a short span of time hence, enabling the development of innovative low latency trading strategies
- Introduced commodity futures, African and Global currency futures, CFDs on commodities and currencies.
- Bourse Africa Clear Ltd. has been formed to act as the designated Clearing House of Bourse Africa, an independent entity licensed by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius.
As a continuation of the strategy of product innovation, Bourse Africa, subject to regulatory approvals, is evaluating introduction of agro commodity futures, base metal futures, African equity index futures, interest rate futures, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and exchange traded notes (ETNs).
