Jamaica Stock Exchange

Business View Caribbean 3 Jamaica Stock Exchange Limited #1 performing stock exchange in the world Marlene Street-Forrest is the General Manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Recently, Business View Magazine talked with her about the role the Exchange plays in the economic life of the island nation, and how its various financial services operate. The following is an edited version of that conversation. Can you tell us how the Jamaica Stock Exchange be- gan? “The Stock Exchange was started in 1968; we began trading in 1969. It was born out of our Central Bank. And the objective, both then and now, is to ensure that we have an orderly market for raising capital for the development of businesses and the country, and also to ensure that we have an efficient and orderly sec- ondary market for the transfer of these securities. The idea was that we were of age – we got our indepen- dence in 1962 – to have an orderly stock exchange.” How is the Exchange structured? “The Jamaica Stock Exchange, the only exchange in the country, so far, is a public, Limited Liability Com- pany (LLC), owned by its shareholders; it is a demutu- alized exchange – the first to be demutualized in the English-speaking Caribbean.” (Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organiza- tion or cooperative changes its legal structure to form a joint stock company. Historically, stock exchanges started as mutually governed, self-regulated struc- tures where profit was not a very strong motive.) “What we did, in 2008, is to separate the ownership of the exchange from the regulation of the exchange to ensure greater corporate governance, [and to ad- dress] any concern persons may have that there could be improprieties in respect to a decision taken by a broker/member who is also member of the Board of the Exchange. So, we have regulatory functions sepa- rate from the Board of Directors. This is common in the more global exchanges; for example, the New York Stock Exchange is a demutualized exchange.” What are the requirements for a company to be list- ed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange? “We have different markets – we have the main mar- ket, and the junior market. The requirements for a company to be listed on the main market are different, somewhat, from listing on the junior market. However, in general, the listing on a market would require that that company is a public company from the CARICOM region, except where, if the company wants to list on AT A GLANCE WHO: Jamaica Stock Exchange Limited WHAT: The principal stock exchange of Jamaica WHERE: Kingston, Jamaica WEBSITE : www.jamstockex.com