Dec 2007 Financial News

Jamaica Stock Exchange to list preference shares by March 2008

Dec 07, 2007

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), in an effort to become more transparent, will be issuing and listing its preference shares by March 2008. So said the chairman of the JSE, Curtis Martin, at the JSE's Best Practices Awards 2006 ceremony held at the Jamaica Pegasus on Wednesday night.

"The JSE is in the odd position of being a private company with a public responsibility. We have taken a long, hard look at this to determine how we can refine our own governance structure, increase our efficiency, enhance transparency and accountability.

"As part of this transformation process, we will be evolving a new business model which will have explicit legal, financial, regulatory, operational and governance implications for the JSE," said Martin.

He then proceeded to outline the major changes that the JSE will undergo.

Within the first two months of 2008, the JSE will be separating its commercial/business arm from that of its regulatory arm

Regulatory matters will be handled by an independent committee of the Board, and decisions which may now appear to some as conflicting for brokers to make should no longer seem that way.

The JSE will be issuing and listing its Preference Shares by March 2008. This means that the JSE will abide by the same standards of disclosure and transparency, which are relevant to other listed companies.

The JSE will be subject to the independent regulatory committee.

Martin noted "It is our intention to ensure best practices in every aspect of the JSE's operation as a publicly-listed company, including reporting requirements which call for the timely and credible dissemination of information.

"The JSE's decision to list and abide by requirements of all listed companies will, of course, bring added benefits to the Jamaican investor. These include raising capital, unlocking shareholders' value and providing the public with the opportunity to invest in a truly Jamaican company," said the chairman of the JSE.

The General Manager of the JSE, Marlene Street Forrest noted that over the years listed companies and brokers have shown significant improvements in the level of compliance and disclosure.

"In the case of Timely Submission of Financial Statements, just to mention one area where significant improvement was observed, the percentage of non-compliance declined from 63 per cent in 2003 to 39 per cent in 2004 and a further reduction to 33 per cent in 2005 and in 2006 non-compliance was as low as 30 per cent".

"As an Exchange we believe there is still room for improvement. However, it is noteworthy that the number of days that companies submit financial statements after the due date has decreased significantly in 2005 and 2006 in comparison to 2002 and 2003.

The general manager of the JSE called on the government to list its public companies on the Exchange as this was one way that 'Best Practice could be achieved.

Source:
Al Edward
The Jamaica Observer
Friday, December 07, 2007

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20071206T230000-0500_130137_OBS_JAMAICA_STOCK_EXCHANGE_TO_LIST_PREFERENCE_SHARES_BY_MARCH_____.asp