Latin American Capital Markets

186 RUBEN LEEaries. A security only needs to be listed on one of the exchanges in the alliance to betraded on the system.The price structure at the different participating exchanges willgradually be harmonized for listing, membership, and trading.The anticipated advantages of NOREX are as follows. It makes it cheaper andeasier for member firms of the participating exchanges to access a wider range ofshares than is currently possible, given that access to participating markets is via a singleconnection. It is hoped that the combined market offered by NOREX will stimulateincreased activity and attract new market participants, who do not currently considerthe separate markets to be large enough to be worth investment. Individually,the Nordic exchanges are relatively small; however together they comprise Europe'sfifth-largest equity market. It is hoped this will enhance turnover and liquidity and raisethe profile of shares listed on the participating exchanges. Listed companies will nolonger find it necessary to arrange separate listings of their shares on internationalstock exchanges.Two simple lessons are evident from the NOREX example. First, it is possibleto agree on and successfully implement a cooperative regional project betweenexchanges in a relatively short time. Second, and although it is difficult to measure thisformally, the shared culture of the Scandinavian countries has been a significant factorin the success of the venture.BRWVIOn November 14, 1973, the seven French-speaking member countries of the WestAfrican Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)—Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'lvoire,Mali, Niger Senegal, and Togo (more recently, Guinea-Bissau joined the union)—signeda treaty concerning the creation of a regional financial market. 39 On December 17,1993, the monetary authorities mandated the UEMOA central bank (Banque Centraledes Etats de I'Afrique de I'Ouest) to lead the project. After extensive negotiationsbetween member countries, a regulator called the Regional Council for PublicSavings and Financial Markets (Conseil Regional de I'Epargne Publique et des MarchesFinanciers) was formed in October 1997. On September 16, 1998, the Bourse RegionaledesValeurs Mobilieres (BRVM, regional stock exchange) opened.The BRVMhas branches in each of the UEMOA member countries and its headquarters in Abidjan,Cote d'lvoire. Although the bourse is majority owned by the private sector, themember governments have 13.5 percent of the capital.Copyright © by the Inter-American Development Bank. All rights reserved.For more information visit our website: www.iadb.org/pub39 This section draws on BRVM (2000); BRVM, www.brvm.org; M. Bendi (March 12, 1999), and other informal sources.