C. Wainwright Iton
General Manager and Chief Executive Officer
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE)
Can Caribbean Governments through a
divestment/privatisation policy
help develop Caribbean capital markets?
Capital markets and more specifically stock (securities) markets are relatively
speaking, fledgling institutions in the Caribbean.
Introduction
Capital markets and more specifically stock (securities)
markets are relatively speaking, fledgling institutions in
the Caribbean. The oldest stock exchange in the English
speaking Caribbean is the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE),
which dates back to 1969; the Trinidad and Tobago Stock
Exchange (TTSE) was established in 1981; the Barbados
Securities Exchange (BSE) in 1987; and the Eastern
Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE) 2001. By
Table 1:
comparison, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) dates
back to 1792 and the London Stock Exchange is more than
300 years old.
Growth and development over the years have been tough;
nevertheless Caribbean Stock (Securities) Exchanges continue
to make an important contribution to daily economic life in
the region. Table 1 shows some relevant statistics.
Stock Exchanges in the Caribbean
Exchange
Initial Trading
Date
Number of Listed Equities
Market Capitalisation as at
October 31st, 2013
First Tier
Local
Currency
Billion
Second Tier
Nominal GDP
(US Billion)
Market Cap/
GDP
USD Billion
TTSE
Oct. 1981
29
2
113,409
17,593
23.8
74%
JSE
Feb.1969
33
19
491,760
4,681
15.3
31%
1987
20
10,940
5,393
4.5
120%
Oct. 2001
13
11.70
4.30
5.4
80%
BSE
OECS
Source: TTSE, JSE, BSE, ECSE
58
Caribbean Investment iQ December 2013