The Cameroonian Parliament has been ruling since last week on a government bill governing the undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS).

This is a clear indication of the upcoming availability, on the Douala Stock Exchange (DSX), the Cameroonian stock market, of these securities brokers who are generally public limited or fund companies, whose activity consists in managing a portfolio of financial securities.

According to experts, there are two categories of UCITS. First, there are the open-ended investment companies (Sicav in French), who issue shares on a financial market and whose buyers become shareholders.

Then, there are trust funds (FCP in French), whose subscribers are rather labelled unitholders, who do not benefit from the rights granted to a shareholder.

UCITS have at least two main advantages for investors. Indeed, in addition to being managed by professionals, their portfolio have the particular feature of holding various shares (obligations and shares), which provides more flexibility. Moreover, the investment risk is shared in an UCIT, since the saver only owns a portion of a portfolio shared by many investors.

With the diversification of financial products they confer, the flexibility and the level of risk sharing they offer, UCITS could help to further boost the Cameroonian financial market.

For over 10 years, this market has listed only three companies and seems to essentially rely on the bonds which are regularly issued by the States (Cameroon and Chad) and financial institutions such as IFC, BDEAC, etc.