The Barbados Stock Exchange or BSE is Barbados' main stock exchange. Its headquarters are in the capital-city Bridgetown. The body was established in 1987 by the Parliament of Barbados as the Securities Exchange of Barbados (SEB), and remained known as such until August 2, 2001. The unique four symbol alphanumeric Market Identifier Code (MIC) used to identify the BSE as defined under ISO 10383.[2] of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)[3] is: XBAB.[4]
History
The body was established in 1987 by the Parliament of Barbados as a statutory body under CAP. 318A, Section 44 of the Securities Exchange Act (1982). Under this original charter it was constituted as the Securities Exchange of Barbados (SEB), and remained known as such until August 2, 2001, when Parliament repealed and replaced the prior act with an updated charter under The Securities Act 2001–3
Since July 4, 2001 the BSE has operated under a fully electronic trading utilizing the Order routing method. The electronic system succeeds the manual system, which comprised an open auction outcry method of trading.
Although it was given effect by Parliament, the BSE functions as a not-for-profit organisation which is privately owned (by its Members). Authority is vested in a Board of Directors, which is chaired by the General Manager.
The Barbados Stock Exchange is among the four major regional Caribbean stock exchanges. The other three being the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange, and Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange. The BSE is the third largest stock exchange in the Caribbean region. The BSE along with officials from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are working to integrate these stock exchanges into a single unit known as the Caribbean Exchange Network (CXN)[5][6] The Trinidad and Tobago exchange has mooted the establishment of some form of association with the U.S. or Canadian based stock exchanges going forward.[7]
As of 2009, officials at the stock exchange were investigating the possibility of augmenting the local exchange with an International Securities Market (ISM) venture.[8]
As of 2010, BSE was one of twenty-seven correspondent members of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).[9]
On 28 January 28, 2020 the Nairobi Securities Exchange Plc. in Kenya and BSE signed a joint Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to help promote links between Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions.[10]
The BSE was located at the 5th Floor of the Tom Adams Financial Centre; prior to relocating to 1st Floor, of Carlisle House on Hincks Street in Bridgetown. Most recently, it relocated to Eighth Avenue in the Bridgetown suburb of Belleville, St. Michael.
