Botswana Stock Exchange
About Company
Our Inception
The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) is Botswana’s sole stock exchange given the responsibility to operate and regulate the securities market. The formation of the BSE can be traced back to 1989, when it was then known as Botswana Share Market (BSM). At that time there was no formal stock exchange in Botswana and the BSM traded as an informal market. At the time, there were only five (5) listed entities with a single broking firm i.e. Stock Brokers Botswana Ltd (SBB), which was also charged with facilitating trading on the exchange.
In September 1994, the legislation to transform the BSM into a full exchange was passed by Parliament paving the way for the establishment of the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) where trading opened in November 1995. In March 1998, Ernst and Young took the full administration of the BSE. With effect from July 2001, a full time Chief Executive Officer was appointed with the aim of making the BSE completely independent. In April 2003, the BSE discontinued the secretarial role of Ernst and Young Botswana to become a fully independent entity.
Our Evolution
Historically, the exchange was owned by its members (stock brokers), through ownership of Proprietary Rights, and the Government of Botswana through the provision of subventions. Government and brokers have played a meaningful role of developing various facets of the market as a whole. BSE’s demutualisation process commenced on the 1st December 2015. That is, the conversion from a member owned, not-for-profit, entity to a for-profit public company limited by shares under the Companies Act. Ultimately, BSE was demutualized on 2nd August 2018 and is now owned by the Government of the Republic of Botswana and the stock brokers.
