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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) – the West Africa Regional Stock Exchange – have signed an agreement to cooperate on improving corporate governance practices of listed companies in West Africa.

The BRVM is an electronic stock exchange for eight West African countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Operating since September 1998, the BRVM is headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Under the terms of the agreement, the IFC will help the BRVM design, develop, draft and implement a Corporate Governance Code.

According to a statement released by the IFC on Thursday, corporate governance practices among West African companies are subpar because the exchanges lack corporate governance guidelines that could serve as a reference to improve practices. Thus, the IFC and BRVM seek to provide market participants with a platform of governance principles and standards that would help them strengthen their practices in a progressive and sustainable way.

“Through this partnership, BRVM can leverage IFC’s global expertise in corporate governance to help African companies improve their access to capital,” said Adamou Labara, IFC’s Acting Country Manager for Côte d’Ivoire.

The implementation of a code in West Africa, according to the statement, would lead to greater transparency and improve investors’ confidence and support regional market development.

“Our aim is to strengthen the capacity of our affiliated companies through the development and the implementation of the Corporate Governance Code and increase their access to funding,” said Edoh Kossi Amenounve, Managing Director of BRVM. “This agreement with IFC demonstrates our commitment to adopt best practices.”

According to the statement, the IFC has helped more than 11,000 companies in more than 30 countries to implement best practices in governance that enable them to have access to new funds estimated at more than $3.2 billion.