(Business in Cameroon) – In 2023, the stock price of Cameroon’s La Régionale Bank, the first financial institution listed on the Central African Stock Exchange (Bvmac), held steady at CFA42,500. According to Bvmac’s latest activity report for the CEMAC region (which includes Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic), the bank’s stock dipped slightly from CFA42,538 in January 2023, down from CFA43,260 in January 2022. Despite this small decrease, trading volume for the bank’s shares quadrupled between its market debut in 2021 and 2023.
“La Régionale Bank’s shares have continued to perform well since they first hit the market on July 16, 2021. The volume of shares traded has improved yearly, going from 298 shares in 2021 to 837 in 2022, and reaching 1,306 shares in 2023—over four times the 2021 volume,” the Bvmac report notes, stressing that “By the end of 2023, La Régionale Bank’s shares had been traded during 41 sessions, up from 35 sessions the previous year, making it the most actively traded stock on the exchange for the second consecutive year”.
Interest in La Régionale Bank shares can stem from various factors, says a seasoned observer of the CEMAC financial market. “Some early investors may be selling off because the stock hasn’t risen as much as they’d hoped. Others are drawn by the novelty of La Régionale Bank, which gained its latest banking licenses in 2022. The bank has also become a regular presence at events held by Cosumaf, the market’s regulatory body, where it shares its experience as Bvmac’s first listed bank, which gives it some publicity that may attract investors.”
