Mauritian Exchange GBOT to Target Africa – Rebrands to BOURSE AFRICA

Financial Technologies, a leading technology solutions provider to financial markets firms has been extending its global footprint through its consortium of trading venues. Its multi-asset exchange in Mauritius, GBOT, has reported that it will be rebranding as BOURSE AFRICA LIMITED (BOURSE AFRICA).

The move signals the exchange’s plans to serve the wider African market. Africa is home to over 1 billion people, with recent figures from the IMF showing GDP exceeding the formidable $2 trillion mark.

Mauritius's first cross-asset exchange, formerly known as Global Board of Trade Ltd., officially embraced its new name today. BOURSE AFRICA will be the first pan-African focused trading venue which aims to serve the needs of the growing African financial markets environment.

MD & CEO of BOURSE AFRICA, Mr. Rinsy Ansalam, commented in the official press briefing stating: “The decision to change the name from GBOT to BOURSE AFRICA is a representation of our absolute focus towards African Financial and commodity Markets. BOURSE AFRICA endeavors to provide market participants with an efficient market for Africa centric Risk Management , trading, investing and capital raising needs.”

Getting it right with listed CFDs

The Mauritian-based exchange was the second exchange to officially launch contracts for differences (CFDs). Since the launch, the exchange has been growing cumulatively with its benchmark gold contract outperforming other FX and metals contracts in the month of August.

The exchange traded a total of 123,823 contracts with total notional volumes reaching $583.5 million, the average daily turnover of $27.8 million.

Mr Rajesh Desai, Director of APAC Services Limited spoke about the performance of CFDs since their launch in a comment to Forex Magnates, saying: “The introduction of the much awaited Contract For Difference (CFD) products on BOURSE AFRICA LIMITED this year, has been welcomed by market participants in Africa and across the world with a soaring participation rate in terms of volume traded.

The reduced size of these products has made them more cost effective and thus more accessible to retail clientele. The response has been very positive as people are showing a lot of interest and are keen to get acquainted to trading on CFD products even though trading in derivative instruments is relatively new to Mauritius. I firmly believe that the scope of trading in CFD derivative instruments in Africa through BOURSE AFRICA LIMITED is promising.”

Still room for..

Although Africa has potential to become one of the best performing regions for economic growth, it still has a long way to go. Its banking and lending system require more investment and rulings that will provide services to both private individuals and small to medium size businesses. According to data from the World Bank 2012, average bank credit to the private sector represents no more than 15% of GDP in Africa; the same figure in developed economies crosses more than 100%.

BOURSE AFRICA can play a pivotal role in creating a uniform business environment for the African continent. Promising data from Zambia earlier this year with the launch of currency futures, which highlight the numerous possibilities on offer. The exchange expects new members to join, with applications in process from firms from South Africa, Ghana and Dubai as well established global players. The exchange has been in contact with neighboring exchanges in Kenya and Ghana.