The Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) recently hosted a closed-session Conclave with its Listed Issuers. BISX says the intent was to meet with senior representatives of Listed Issuers to discuss their duties and responsibilities to the market, as well as to discuss the fundamental regulatory principles and overall mission of the Exchange
BISX Chief Executive Keith Davies points out, "The Exchange communicates and meets with its Issuers one-on-one on a regular basis. The reasoning behind this Conclave, however, was to bring as many of our Issuers as possible into one room at the same time. The goal being, of course, to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information not just from the Exchange to its Issuers, but also from the Issuers with each other. The attendance at our meeting was outstanding and it was good to receive the overwhelming positive feedback from our Listed Issuers regarding their participation and depth of learning."
The Conclave featured four modules intended to provide issuers with the principles regarding how the Exchange’s rules are enforced and more importantly, why the rules are in place. The purpose of each module was to provide issuers with a deeper understanding of the Exchange’s regulatory regime. These Modules were:
- Listing on BISX – This session was presented by BISX Chief Operating Officer, Holland Grant, who identified the guiding principles of these BISX Rules as: Capital Formation, Market Development and Suitability.
- Issuer’s Continuing Obligations – This session was presented by BISX CEO, Keith Davies, who identified the guiding principles of these BISX Rules as: Transparency, Confidence and Security.
- Trading on BISX – This session was presented by Mr. Davies and Mr. Grant jointly, the guiding principles identified for this session were: Transparency, Price Discovery and Equitable Access.
- Corporate Governance – This session was presented by Miss Odecca Gibson from the Securities Commission of The Bahamas, who spoke about the existing Corporate Governance Framework in Bahamian law, International Standards related to Corporate Governance, as well as considerations for Company’s Boards and Senior Management.
BISX was also pleased to thank the Securities Commission of The Bahamas for their role in the Conclave. Mr. Davies noted, "We are grateful to the Commission’s Executive Director Christina Rolle for agreeing to participate in this conclave. We wish to thank Ms. Odecca Gibson for speaking on Corporate Governance and Ms. Sandra Duncombe and her Market Surveillance team for participating as well. The relationship between BISX and the Securities Commission is a necessary strong pillar to the effective regulation of the Bahamian capital markets, and we look forward to many more collaborations of this nature.”
