This week, Myanmar’s second stock exchange, which we already reported about, has been officially approved, with a planned launch before the end of the year.

The new exchange will be a pre-listing board for companies that do not qualify for the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX), said YSX executive senior manager U Thet Tun Oo in a press conference. The pre-listing board, plans for which were revealed in mid-September, aims to fill the gap between smaller publicly-traded companies and the somewhat exclusive YSX, whose six traded companies are much larger. To join the second bourse, a company must be registered as “public” (which companies may do even if they do not qualify for the YSX) and have at least 100 shareholders, among other criteria. Thet Tun Oo said that the pandemic has made progress on the new exchange uncertain, but he expects it to launch before the end of the year.

Speaking to the Myanmar Times in mid-September, U Maung Maung Win, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, argued that the new exchange would especially benefit small and medium enterprises, which have disproportionately suffered under the COVID-19 pandemic. In the longer term, the new exchange is another step in Myanmar’s gradual reform of its business and investment infrastructure. Prior to the pandemic, the YSX had enjoyed some growth in trades, and early this year it allowed limited trades by foreigners. It also added a sixth company to its bourse, Ever Flow River Group.