Caribbean Exchange Network misses start-up date

General Manager and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, Wain Iton told the Trinidad Express that the exchanges have been doing what they have to do, but " there are regulatory issues now that are outside out control".

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, April 3, 2008 – Officials say the regional stock exchange scheduled to get off the ground on April 1 missed its start-up date as a result of takeover activity in the region's capital markets and delay on the part of regulators.

The long-awaited Caribbean Exchange Network (CXN) has been set up to integrate the operations of exchanges in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago with the long-term aim of creating a common Caribbean securities market.

General Manager and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, Wain Iton told the Trinidad Express that the exchanges have been doing what they have to do, but " there are regulatory issues now that are outside out control".

"The difficulty in projects such as these is that the exchanges don't retain full control to implement them and now have to wait on the relevant authorities to complete the regulatory requirements," Mr Iton told the newspaper.

His Barbadian counterpart has further explained that regulators have not yet met and agreed to proposals submitted by the respective countries since last November and this was the major holdup.

"We are basically waiting on them…We cannot force their hands on it," said CEO and general manager of the Barbados Stock Exchange, Marlon Yarde.

Meantime, Ayesha Maycock, senior trader with Signia Financial Group Inc, in Barbados has suggested that takeover activity which began last year – involving companies such as WIBISCO, FirstCaribbean, Barbados Farms, the takeover bidding process for Barbados Shipping & Trading by Trinidadian industrial giant Neal & Massy and Royal Bank of Canada's buyout of RBTT – had distracted regulators.

She told the Nation Newspaper that these transactions kept regulators busy and as such took precedence due to the time lines involved in the process.