From Reuters

West Africa’s regional BRVM bourse saw a jump in turnover of over 17 percent in 2014 boosted by increased participation from investors in Europe, Asia and the Americas, the stock market’s general manager said on Tuesday.

Turnover rose to 227 billion CFA francs ($396 million) from 193.50 billion CFA francs in 2013, Edo Kossi Amenounve told journalists in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan where the BRVM is headquartered.

“We’ve seen a growing interest in our market from investors from Europe, the Americas and Asia,” he said. “Eight percent of our investors are American. We are prospecting Asian funds and the South African market.”

Amenounve said while the market remained dominated by West African investors, 44 percent now come from outside the region.

Meanwhile, he said the bourse was expecting to list at least five new companies in 2015, including Total’s Senegalese subsidiary, Bank of Africa Mali, and two other banks in Togo and Burkina Faso.

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