Caribbean Ratings Agency Scheduled For Next March

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

12 November 2003

A Caribbean ratings agency, modelled on Standard & Poor’s, aimed at broadening the scope and raising the profile of the region’s investment markets is set to be up and running early in 2004, according to a report in the Barbados Nation News.

Presently, the agency is seeking some $3 million in funding from prospective shareholders, although Robert Mayers, managing director of Trinidad based CMMB Securities which is involved in the setting up of the agency, is confident that this target will be exceeded. He added that the share offer closes on January 15 next year and that he is hopeful of a March launch for the new operation.

Mayers told Nation News that the establishment of a Caribbean ratings agency was important from an educational standpoint, suggesting that it would serve to develop people’s understanding of the various types of investments and the risks involved. He also observed that it was vital that the institution remained independent from corporate or political influences, and revealed that ownership is to be structured in such a way that no body can have more than a 10% holding, except the Caribbean Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The agency’s board, according to CMMB’s chief executive officer Ram Ramesh, will initially be headed up by Ron Harford, chairman of the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, and feature regional representation. Shareholders will then elect a new board containing 13 members, although shareholders themselves will not be entitled to sit on the board. The rating committee will also be independent of the board, Ramesh added.

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