CDB funds first serious study of a single Caribbean stock exchange

A US$100,000 grant reopens a question the region has circled for two decades. This time the money is on the table and the terms of reference are specific.

The Caribbean Development Bank has approved a US$100,000 grant to the CARICOM Private Sector Organization to assess whether a single regional stock exchange is feasible for states participating in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The grant is drawn from the Bank's Special Development Fund 11 and finances Phase I only. Together with the Inter-American Development Bank, the two institutions are contributing US$324,700 toward completing that first phase.

The sum is small. The question is not.

Lisa Harding, division chief of the Bank's Private Sector Division, framed the study as the analysis needed to determine how a regional exchange could strengthen access to finance and advance regional economic integration. The Bank's own statement of the problem is blunter: several exchanges already operate across the region, yet Caribbean capital markets remain fragmented, and that fragmentation limits cross-border participation.

The terms of reference are more specific than previous efforts. The study will analyze capital market demand across member states, assess the legal and regulatory requirements for deeper integration, evaluate international exchange models, and consult public and private sector stakeholders. It will also examine access to financing for women-led enterprises, youth entrepreneurs, and groups historically underserved by the region's capital markets. Findings are to be presented at a regional symposium, which gives the work a public terminus rather than allowing it to disappear into a file.

Two things make the timing worth noting.

The first is that the exchanges are not waiting. The Jamaica Stock Exchange launched a Micro Market in June for companies seeking to raise between J$50 million and J$100 million, extending the listing ladder downward toward firms that have never had access to public capital. Cross-listing arrangements between Jamaica and Trinidad are already in place. Integration is happening in fragments, bilaterally and by exchange initiative, whether or not a regional framework arrives to organize it.

The second is that this idea has stalled before. An earlier CARICOM push targeted the finalization of model securities legislation and the instruments for an integrated capital market by July 2019, a deadline that came and went. That effort required member states to agree on a supranational securities commission with authority over national markets, and the agreement did not materialize. The obstacle then was not analysis. It was sovereignty.

Which is the test this study will eventually face. A feasibility assessment can establish that a regional exchange would improve liquidity, lower the cost of capital, and widen the investor base. None of that answers the question of which national regulator cedes what, to whom, and under what instrument. Phase I is the easy part.