The West Africa Regional Stock Exchange, Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), and the IFC have signed an agreement for improving corporate governance practices of listed companies. Under the agreement, IFC will help BRVM design, develop, draft and implement a corporate governance code.

In general governance practices among West African companies are some way behind international benchmarks. The implementation of a code in West Africa could lead to greater transparency and improve investor confidence that supports regional capital market development.

Dr. Edoh Kossi Amenounve, managing director of BRVM, said “This agreement with IFC demonstrates our commitment to adopt best practices. Our aim is to strengthen the capacity of our affiliated companies through the development and the implementation of the Corporate Governance Code and increase their access to financing.”

IFC’s Corporate Governance programme works to improve the performance of African companies and increase market capacity to attract and retain investments. IFC has helped more than 11,000 companies in more than 30 countries to implement best practices in governance that enable them to have access to new funds estimated at more than $3.2bn.

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