The Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE; Arabic: بورصة بيروت) is the principal and only stock exchange of Lebanon. Located in Beirut, it is a public institution run by a committee including a chairman, a vice-chairman and eight members appointed via a decree issued by the Council of Ministers, in accordance with a proposal by the Minister of Finance. All BSE members are Lebanese Joint stock companies (SAL) with a capital above £L500,000 and registered at the secretariat of the Commercial Register in. Members include holding companies and offshore companies. The BSE authorizes Brokerage firms the operation and trade in securities listed on the BSE according to the Bourse trading system and also lists the issuing companies (called "Listed companies") that have any of their stocks or other financial instruments listed.[1] In January 2024 the market value of the Exchange was 20.4 billion USD.[2]
History
Beirut Stock Exchange, the second oldest market in the region, was established in 1920 by a decree of the French commissioner. Trading at that time was concentrated on gold and currency transactions, however in the 1930s there was an inflow of French, Syrian