On 18th October 2010, GBOT, the first international multi-asset exchange from Mauritius commenced operations.

A year later, it is among the largest exchanges in Africa trading commodity and currency futures with average daily trading volumes of over USD30mn.

GBOT has attracted members and their clients from across Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe and the U.S.

Global Board of Trade Ltd. (GBOT), which commenced operations on 18th October, 2010, has successfully completed its first year of offering Futures trading in commodities and currencies on its exchange platform.

In doing so, GBOT has brought to Mauritius and Africa the global best in trading technology, IT infrastructure, human capital and products well-suited for Africa’s needs.

Its unique product offerings in USD settled precious metals, oil and currencies make it the first such exchange from Africa.

Over USD10million was traded on the very first day of trading on GBOT, the highest by a Greenfield exchange.

GBOT has clocked its highest daily trading volume at USD65mn in July 2011 and has been consistently trading in the USD30-40million mark per day.

However, GBOT considers the advancements it has brought in the African financial market ecosystem to be more significant than the very positive growth of trading volumes, which are indicative of a success that can only be truly gauged over several years.

In line with this development of African financial systems, GBOT has endeavoured to launch Africa-centric products in contract sizes well suited for African producers, farmers, miners, importers, exporters and investors to enable price discovery of African products in Africa itself.

GBOT is gearing up to launch Equity Cash and Derivatives segment subject to receiving regulatory approval, thereby enabling African firms to raise capital within the continent rather than them having to look at foreign markets. GBOT’s vision is to create the “investment culture” in the continent by establishing a liquid and efficient tech-centric financial exchange from Mauritius.

Due to its robust technology infrastructure which enables seamless global access, brokers from across Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe and the U.S who are keen to partake in the Africa growth story have become members of the exchange.

GBOT has successfully completed 248 daily clearing and settlement cycles on T+1 basis while having to settle in two currencies (USD and MUR) across multiple geographies.

This achievement has further provided investors the much needed confidence in the functioning of this complex financial structure.

Through GBOT’s global market access (GMA) model, the exchange is now able to facilitate participation of regional African exchanges in global products.

In the last six months, GBOT has conducted training programs on new age financial markets and risk mitigation techniques for strategic decision makers in Mauritius, Kenya and Uganda to foster their knowledge on risk mitigation as a key aspect of their strategy.

More than half of GBOT’s employees are young Mauritians, who work alongside experienced expats to gain invaluable experience in financial markets.

By employing the talented youth and imparting financial market knowledge, GBOT has been creating adept professionals with domain expertise in functioning of an exchange.

Through its research and product development initiatives, GBOT is constantly enhancing the levels of financial literacy in the region while also working to create as many Africa-centric products as possible.

Offering his thoughts on the occasion of the first anniversary, Joseph Bosco, the MD and CEO of the exchange said, “From the CME and NYSE in the U.S and the LSE and LME in Europe to the NSE and MCX in India, new-age liquid financial markets have changed the business landscape for the better by attracting large and small investors and augmenting economic growth. Owing to its multi-asset capabilities, GBOT endeavours to create robust financial markets in Africa similar to what the aforementioned exchanges have done in their respective countries, thereby drawing the world’s attention to those markets. Further, GBOT aims to attract the best brokerage houses and investment banks to Africa. This will not only enable African firms to raise capital but also ensure that global markets will have to accept the price of African commodities determined by market forces in Africa itself”.

Further highlighting the relevance of GBOT, Mr. Bosco added, “The developed markets of the world are seeing tough times and the world is once again looking to Africa’s resource riches. Only a robust and transparent exchange can ensure that Africa gets true value for its produce rather than being exploited as in the past.

GBOT from Mauritius will be this robust and transparent exchange that Africa needs today; much more than ever before.”