Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil

Brief history

On May 30, 1969, under the Presidency of Dr. Velasco Ibarra, pursuant to an Executive Order, it was authorized that Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil be created, upon the initiative of the Securities Commission-National Financial Corporation (CV-CFN). The first BVG trading session was carried out on August 31, 1970. All over its first year of operation, trading was distributed as follows: 96.7% fixed income and 3.5% equities.

In 1993 the first Securities Market Law was enacted, and published in the Official Gazette on May 28, the same year.  Under the new act, Stock Exchanges were granted self-regulatory powers. The government created Consejo Nacional de Valores, as securities market regulator, and Superintendencia de Compañías, as companies regulator and supervisor.  Afterwards, a new Securities Market Law was enacted in 1998.

1998 and 1999 were years of great hardship for the Ecuadorean economy, which was facing the challenge of El Niño climate events, as well as political and economic crises that created an atmosphere of instability and uncertainty. All this contributed to the failure of 75% of total banks and firms, and derived into more State intervention in the economy, with short-term government bonds (fixed income) prevailing over equities. In January 2000, the Government of Ecuador announced the adoption of a US dollar-based scheme, which removed foreign currency uncertainty.

Throughout its history, the Guayaquil Exchange conducted several activities to promote securities market development.  One should note the following:

• Implementation of the first Electronic Market System in Ecuador, in July 1994;
• Development of domestic and international BVG presence at international meetings and conferences;
• Application of “Valuation Module” (Módulo Valorizador), a data base consisting of all fixed-income securities, with automated and interactive calculation of yield, IRR, and price, through a standard method and formulation;
• Application of “Virtual World” (Mundo Virtual) website since1997, a platform acknowledged as a case study at Harvard Business School;
• Securities Market Management Program, unique in Ecuador;
• In conjunction with Bolsa de Quito, preparation of a mark-to market accounting method, which has been implemented since 2005;
• Unregistered Securities Issuers Registry (REVNI);
• Development and implementation of other trading mechanisms;
• Use of SEB Electronic Market System nationally since 2012.