Business View Caribbean | April 2019

42 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN APRIL 2019 53 securities; on the junior market, we have 36 companies comprising 38 securities; the US Dollar equities market has 9 companies comprising 12 securities; and the bond market has 4 securities. Each market is growing, and companies can graduate from the junior market to the main market. We are expecting a progressive and productive year in 2019, anticipating in all markets somewhere around 20 new securities. “At this point, we are looking at the social sector. This past January (2019), we launched the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange. It has two parts: first, the concentration will be on projects from Foundations etc. that can be listed on the Exchange via donation. And as that regulation is ruled out, we’ll be looking at listing social impact companies.” BVC: What do you find are the biggest challenges? Street Forrest: “For listed companies, there is much more scrutiny and regulation, and while we have a lot of listed SMEs and MSMEs, our biggest challenge is encouraging them and getting them over the hurdles of coming to market. They may operate well, but usually their organization has deficiencies in orderly financials and business plans. So, we have designed programs to assist them with getting those things done to meet the requirements of listing on the Exchange. We have a pretty robust regulatory environment in the FSC to which we report and in regard to our regulatory matters and oversight division. We also have a supportive financial environment that benefits the players in the industry. I would love to see us move beyond the restriction that we have for launching products that are currency based and the approval that comes from our Central Bank. I understand that, in terms of overall oversight of the economy, they have to be cognizant of the impact of any security they attract and the aspects of the foreign exchange. But I would like to have our country be less fragile and have a little more elasticity in terms of encouraging those types of securities listed on our market or approved for fundraising. “We do advocate regulation changes to a limited