[Last updated: 1 January 2024, unless otherwise noted]

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) was first established in 1883 as the Alexandria Stock Exchange, and eventually merged with the stock exchange in Cairo. By the 1960s, the merged Cairo and Alexandria Bourse was one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. The Cairo and Alexandria Bourse was re-organized in 1997 during Egypt's economic reform programs. The EGX currently has a total market capital of approximately EGP2.70 billion (approximately US$87.21 million).

Regulations governing the Egyptian securities market are not as extensive as those in other global financial centers. However, main features are captured, and advanced rules are in place to sanction certain bad practices, such as insider trading. A substantial portion of Egypt's securities laws and rules have not yet received sufficient judicial or regulatory interpretation or review and are therefore less developed than comparable global financial centers.

The EGX Listing Rules and executive regulations (as recently entirely re-issued effective as of February 2014), set the general framework, criteria and requirements for listing securities in Egypt. The Listing Rules supersede two sets of preceding rules, which had been in place for over a decade. The Listing Rules are supervised and enforced by the EGX and the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the securities regulator in Egypt. The Listing Rules have been subjected to a number of amendments since issuance.

Although the Listing Rules allow for foreign securities to be listed on the EGX, the regulations are not as developed as those for domestic securities, leaving broad discretion to the EGX and FRA, and with only a handful of foreign companies having been listed to date. Therefore, as applicable, portions of this summary describe the requirements and procedures for domestic companies seeking a listing on the EGX.