Burundi has selected the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) to help modernize the financial market. The central Banque de la République du Burundi (BRB) aims to build a more efficient domestic market adapted to global standards.
LSEG technology will be used to transform trading in foreign exchange (FX), lending between banks, domestic open-market operations where the central bank buys or sells government debt, and surveillance.
Edouard Normand Bigendako, BRB Governor, said in an LSEG press release (Sept 2025): “This partnership with LSEG marks a transformative moment in our financial sector. By automating and digitizing our market operations, we are enhancing transparency, improving operational efficiency, and laying the foundation for a more resilient and inclusive financial system that supports long-term growth.”
LSEG will deploy systems including:
- FX Trading Platform for centralized trading in currencies
- Money Market Trading for interbank liquidity and lending and borrowing between banks
- Auctions for open market operations including automated issuance of government securities.
- Market Tracker system for automated reporting and real-time market oversight to boost capacity to supervise the market and ensure compliance.
- LSEG Workspace delivers these and enables the central bank and authorized financial institutions such as banks to get a clear view on the market and operate more efficiently.
Nadim Najjar, LSEG Managing Director, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “We are enabling the transition to a more modern, transparent, and efficient financial ecosystem, one that empowers national economies and connects them to global standards.”
LSEG is a global financial markets infrastructure and data provider, with significant operations in 65 countries and over 26,000 employees.
Reuters is a leader in FX trading technology, and is widely used in African markets. It became part of Refinitiv, which was bought by the LSEG in a $27 billion transaction in 2021, also bringing on board Refinitiv’s currency trading platform FXall and majority stake in listed bond-trading platform Tradeweb. The various arms are rebranded as LSEG since August 2023.
SIDE NOTE: Readers who follow securities exchange strategy and the outcome of such mergers may find this Substack article by The Terminalist makes fascinating reading. It also analyses the performance of the LSEG share price since the 2021 merger (spoiler – not great).
Photo: Paternoster Square with London Stock Exchange at right (credit: Gren in Wikipedia public domain 2005)