BOLSA DE VALORES Y PRODUCTOS DE ASUNCIÓN S.A.

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What it is

The Bolsa de Valores de Asunción (BVA) is Paraguay’s sole stock exchange, located in the capital Asunción; it was founded by the National Chamber of Commerce and Services on 28 September 1977. After a long period without any activity, the legal framework that made trading possible was only created in 1991, under Law Nº 94/91.

The exchange’s first trading session took place on 11 October 1993, with just nine listed companies. Today it acts as the central meeting place where licensed brokers buy and sell bonds, equities and other instruments on behalf of investors — offering timely financial data through an integrating platform available to the public.

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Who owns it

The BVA is structured as a private limited company (sociedad anónima) owned by its member brokerage houses — the casas de bolsa that are licensed to trade on it. At the April 2023 shareholders’ assembly, the board was composed of representatives drawn from those member firms, with ten director seats filled by individuals affiliated with different brokerages.

No single controlling family or state entity holds a dominant stake; ownership is spread across the broker community.

Not published: the precise percentage held by each member brokerage is not disclosed in the Superintendencia de Valores filing registry or in the BVA’s publicly accessible corporate-governance documents. Paraguay’s securities law (Law Nº 5810/17) requires periodic disclosure of material shareholding changes, but the BVA does not publish a full shareholder register online.

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Who runs it

At its assembly on 9 April 2025, the BVA elected Pablo Cheng Lu as president for the 2025–2027 term; he brings a background in banking law and capital markets, and has participated on the board for over a decade. Álvaro Acosta serves as first vice-president and René Ruíz Díaz as second vice-president, with Raymundo Mendoza, Rodrigo Callizo, Elías Gelay, Federico Dos Santos, Darío Brugiati and Paolo Doldán as full directors.

Rodrigo Rojas Vera serves as general manager — the day-to-day executive — and has spoken publicly about the challenge of developing the equity (share-trading) segment of the market. Under outgoing president Eduardo Borgognon, the investor base more than doubled, surpassing 40,000 registered investors.

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The money, in plain words

The BVA earns fees on every transaction that crosses its platform — essentially a toll on the market it hosts. By the end of September 2024 the exchange had recorded G.

34.9 trillion (≈ USD 4.6 billion) in traded volume for the year to date, a pace 40% ahead of the same point in 2023. Analysts projected the full year would close at around G.

53 trillion (≈ USD 8.7 billion at current FX), a record that would exceed the previous high — the roughly USD 5 billion traded in 2023 — by about 45%.

On the BVA’s own finances — its revenue, profit and return on equity — no audited figures are publicly available. Not published: the BVA’s annual reports (memorias) are referenced on its website but their numerical contents are not released in a machine-readable or downloadable format accessible to this reporter; the Superintendencia de Valores (the national securities regulator, operating under the Banco Central del Paraguay) lists the BVA as a registered entity under Resolution CNV Nº 58E/17 but does not publish its income statement.

Paraguay’s Ley del Mercado de Valores requires listed companies to file periodic information, yet the BVA’s own financial data remain effectively non-public. The unverified revenue estimate cited in the key-facts box above should be treated as indicative only.

Market observers note that the bulk of traded volume is driven by short-term repurchase agreements (reporto operations) rather than outright secondary-market trading, and that equity trading remains thin, reflecting how few Paraguayan companies have listed their shares.

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What it is doing now

In January 2026 the BVA announced a structural milestone: it formally went live on Nasdaq’s trading technology and, simultaneously, separated trading from clearing and custody — handing the settlement function to a new independent body, CAVAPY — in line with international standards. The process also involved spinning out custody and settlement to CAVAPY entirely, so the BVA now focuses exclusively on price discovery and order matching.

New president Cheng Lu has said his priority is to continue expanding the base of issuers and investors, building on what he described as the exponential growth in transaction volumes, patrimony and clients achieved under his predecessor. He has also expressed the ambition of positioning the BVA as a regional financial hub capable of attracting foreign companies and institutional investors.

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What to watch

• Equity market depth. The BVA remains overwhelmingly a fixed-income venue. Whether more Paraguayan companies list their shares — enabling the exchange to earn higher-margin equity fees — is the single biggest lever for revenue growth.
• Nasdaq platform results. The January 2026 go-live is too recent to judge; watch whether trading volumes and new issuers accelerate under the new system in 2026.
• Financial transparency. The BVA is both an exchange operator and a listed company on its own platform, yet publishes no accessible audited financials. Pressure from the regulator or from institutional investors to improve disclosure is a risk — and an opportunity — to watch.
• CAVAPY integration. The new central depository, CAVAPY, operates entirely in the cloud with international certifications — its smooth functioning is now critical to every trade settled in Paraguay.
• Investor base maturation. With over 40,000 registered investors and volume growth of 40%+ year-on-year, the market is clearly in a growth phase; a macro shock or a regulatory misstep could reverse that sentiment quickly.

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This is news, not investment advice.