Colombia Stock Exchange

Colombia Stock Exchange
Bolsa de Valores de Colombia
Type	Stock Exchange
Location	Bogotá, Colombia
Founded	November 23, 1928
Owner	MILA
Key people	Rafael Aparicio Escallon (Chairman)
Currency	Colombian peso, American dollar
No. of listings	89
MarketCap	US$ 200 billion (September 1, 2010)
Indexes	IGBC
Website	Colombia Stock Exchange Home Page

The Bolsa de Valores de Colombia, also known as BVC, is the principal stock exchange of Colombia. It was created on July 3, 2001 by the union of three extant stock exchanges in Colombia: Bogotá Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Bogotá), Medellín Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Medellín) and Cali's Western Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Occidente). The company maintains offices in Bogotá, Medellín, Pereira and Cali.

History

The idea of a stock exchange in Colombia occurred originally in Medellín at the beginning of the 20th century with an initiative in 1901 and then in Bogotá in 1903 with an unsuccessful outcome. It was not only until the late 1920s when the political and socio-economic landscape seemed to give more opportunities of survival.

It was in mid 1928 when a group of entrepreneurs and government officials from Colombia and abroad organized the promotion of the Bogotá Stock Exchange (Sp. Bolsa de Bogotá) so they could establish the judicial and operational framework of the newly created organization. Former Minister of Economy and jurist Jorge Soto del Corral composed the regulations of the new entity and on November 23 of 1928 the public title 1702 was signed and constituted the Bogota Stock Exchange as a public limited company. On May 6, 1929 the first board of trustees was elected.

In March 1929 the first 17 traders were assigned by Banking Superintendent Gonzalo Cordoba and on April 25 corporations and organizations registered their shares, this included banks, financial service companies and manufacturing and commercial services corporations. Among them Bank of Colombia currently branded as Bancolombia which is also a NYSE listed company and Scadta today known as Avianca.

Bogotá Stock Exchange remained as Colombia's only stock trading organization until the 1950s when Medellín created its own Stock Exchange. This was particularly useful for the coffee trade since Colombia's coffee market's original birthplace is the Department of Antioquia.

Cali created its stock exchange in the mid-1970s.

The main driving force of this stock exchanges was the economic growth it meant to their participants. However, the policy making of the original stock exchange and Colombia's Bank of the Republic (Similar to the United States Federal Reserve) was archaic for today's standards.

The evolution of the financial policies of the estate, the fundamental macroeconomic principles, the development of a financial system, the creation of entrepreneurial groups and the evolution of illegal drug trade and the violence it brought, were factors that decimated the share trading market of Colombia during the 1970s. Despite these problems and the original stock exchange losing its original mission of being a vehicle for the trading of shares, its executives pursued the improving of the credibility of Bolsa de Bogota by concentrating in the operations between potential investors and shareholders.

During 2001 it became necessary to merge the three regional stock exchanges into what it is known today as Bolsa de Valores of Colombia (Stock Exchange of Colombia).

During 2011 is planned to unify the Stocks Markets of Colombia, Chile and Peru in the Market Stocks of the Andes.

See also

• Economy of Colombia
• List of stock exchanges
• List of American stock exchanges
• List of Colombian companies

External links

• Bolsa de Valores de Colombia
• Directory of brokers on the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (page in Spanish)
• Financial site of the Colombian Stock Market(page in Spanish).