Baljit Vohra, general manager of the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange in St Kitts.

Baljit Vohra, general manager of the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange in St Kitts, said even before discussing cross-listing, companies have to view the process differently.

“If we are going to talk about integration and coming together on exchanges, first we have to demutualise them. Convert them into shareholding companies, corporatise them even before you start talking about cross-ownership,” he said.

Another matter which Vohra said needed to be addressed was the value of shares traded, in relation to market capitalisation, which was very, very low.

“The average company size across the region is small, family owned and there is the whole issue about control. Listing and going public does not mean giving up control and that is what Grace, Kennedy realised 30 years ago, and that is the notion and mindset that has to be changed within our region,” he stressed.

He was addressing a panel discussion on Formation of a Caribbean Stock Exchange and Promoting Non-traditional Investment Mechanisms, during a symposium held last Thursday at the Sherbourne Conference Centre entitled, Florida-Caribbean Collaborative Development Strategies: Positioning Caribbean Businesses To Compete In An FTAA Era.

The event was sponsored by The World Trade Centre Miami and Caribbean-Central American Action in collaboration with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Marlon Yarde, general manager of the Barbados Stock Exchange presented two models as systems which could be used for a regional stock exchange – The transition model and the Evronex model.

He said the transition model entailed the integration of markets through memorandums of understanding, similar to what two member states of CARICOM have gone ahead and done, but to the exclusion of Barbados.

“The Jamaica Stock Exchange and the Trinidad Tobago Stock Exchange signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate the markets. I don’t know why they didn’t invite the Barbados, or even the Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange to the party?

"They argued that the Jamaica and Trinidad exchanges were compatible but my rebuttal to that was that Jamaica and Barbados exchanges were more compatible because I understand Trinidad still uses the open out price system,” Yarde said.

The BSE general manager added that both countries say they will be upgrading their computer systems within the next two months, placing them on similar platforms.

Yarde said Barbados was also upgrading its system to the most recent version of computer share.

The creation of critical mass was also one of the areas which would have to become a reality before a regional exchange came into being.