History
The Egyptian Exchange was formerly known as the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE). In 2009, the CASE 30 Index (made up of the 30 largest companies being traded) changed its name to the EGX 30 Index. In 2011 the EGX 20 Index, composed of the twenty most active and liquid stocks on the Egyptian Exchange, was launched.
The Alexandria Stock Exchange was officially established in 1883, with Cairo following in 1903. Both exchanges were very active in the 1940s, and the combined Egyptian Stock Exchange ranked fifth in the world. The central planning and socialist policies adopted in the mid-1950s led to the exchange becoming dormant between 1961 and 1992.
In the 1990s, the Egyptian government's restructuring and economic reform programme resulted in the revival of the Egyptian stock market, and a major change in the organisation of the Cairo and Alexandria stock exchanges took place in January 1997 with the election of a new board of directors and the establishment of a number of board committees.
Sherif Raafat, former chairman of the board of directors, sought to modernise the exchange by:
- Creating a coherent organisation structure with a clear division of authority and responsibilities;
- Deciding to install a new state-of-the-art trading, clearing and settling system conforming to international standards (in May 1998 a contract was signed with EFA Software Ltd., a Canadian company, to this end);
- Developing new membership and trading rules, as well as arbitration and dispute resolution procedures;
- Planning the improvement of the clearing, settlement and payment systems.
By the end of November 1998, there were 833 listed companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of approximately L.E. 71.3 billion (up from 627 companies listed in 1991 with a market capitalisation of L.E. 8.8 billion).
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