In the early 1800s, Norway was a country of farmers and fishermen. Christiania, as the capital city was then called, had just 10,000 inhabitants. The Norwegian economy was weak, and money was scarce. This had a crushing effect on business and industry, and it was decided that the country needed a commercial exchange to encourage greater commercial activity.
The merchant Nicolay Andresen is generally recognised as the "father" of the Oslo stock exchange. He made the first proposal for a commercial exchange to the Norwegian parliament in 1818, and a small committee of four leading businessmen was established to progress the idea.
In May 2001 Oslo Børs, which by this time had been in existence for 182 years, changed its status from being a self-financing foundation to become a limited company, and the company created was then privatised. The new structure involved Oslo Børs Holding ASA as a holding company with the sole business objective of owning 100% of the share capital of Oslo Børs ASA, which is the company that operates the marketplaces. Oslo Børs Holding ASA was subsequently included on the OTC list operated by the Norwegian Securities Dealers Association, but as a matter of policy the company elected from the time it was established to operate as though it had a full stock exchange listing.'