Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies delivered the Keynote Speech at the Opening Ceremony on day one of the conference, at the Jamaica Conference Centre. He lauded the conference as an important step in facilitating necessary alliances and coordinated activities between the region’s securities market regulators.
There were seven panel discussions and five technical presentations spanning both days, which featured topics surrounding the theme: “Securities Market Regulation: Balancing Protection and Development.” The technical presentations were designed to extend delegates’ knowledge of key regulatory and industry issues. The panel discussion on “The State of Investor Protection Funds in the Caribbean, for example, generated considerable dialogue between regulators and participants.
Marlene Street, General Manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange raised a number of key policy issues that should be resolved in preparation for the establishment of a single, regional compensation fund a topic of interest across the region. What constitutes adequate funding? Will the fund derive funding solely from brokers, or will it include government contributions? Are the funds to be taxed? Can there be uniform and complete dematerializing of share registers; what mechanisms for cross border broker protection will be put in place?
On the same issue, Ana Carvajal, Technical Assistance Advisor in the IMF, also highlighted that policymakers would need to clarify: the structure (self-regulated entity?), governance procedures, eligibility (who is entitled to make claims?), and limits of a regional compensation fund, or indeed any scheme of that nature. She advised that “a competitive scheme would be quite useful, primarily in terms of building investor confidence, and in so doing can work as a competitive advantage for one market over another.” In this regard, an investor may be more inclined to do business with an intermediary located in a jurisdiction which features a compensation fund. Ultimately, the success of a scheme depends largely on how well all the states involved are able to harmonize and how suited the scheme is to the local investor environment.
The panel discussion on Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Programs for Regulators and Regulated Entities featured presentations from several international anti-money laundering specialists including Nyron Davidson, Senior Resident Advisor, Caribbean Region, US Office of Technical Assistance; Scott Birdwell, Senior Counsel in the US Securities & Exchange Commission; as well as Munro Sutherland and Calvin Knowles, both Chairs of the Bermuda Monetary Authority and Bahamas Securities Commission respectively. This session served to highlight changing trends in money laundering and the laws that have been modified to keep these developments in check. There were also perspectives on the costs for states that do not exercise stringent antimoney laundering programs and so, have had to face international sanctions.
Overall, participants found the conference to be “a very useful forum for Caribbean regulators and regulated entities to meet and discuss matters of mutual interest.” This annual opportunity for region-wide dialogue will continue with next year’s conference of the Caribbean Securities Regulators Group, which will be held in the Bahamas.
