Between January and June registrations of securities issues amounted to $4.2 billion, up from the $2.944 billion recorded in 2015.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
If the number of new issues registered with the Panamanian Stock Exchange continues to grow as it did in the first half of the year, the figure at the end of 2016 will be the highest in historical terms, surpassing the record of 2013, when $3.579 billion was recorded.
Marelissa Quintero, chief of the Superintendency of Securities (SMV), told Prensa.com that"... 'the level registered is going at a good pace this year', but she said that not everything that is recorded is actually issued in the market in the end."
Yolanda Real, director of Emissions at the SMV, explained that "...by sector, the highest total amount of emissions corresponds to the participation shares of investment companies."However, the financial sector as a whole stands out as having a greater amount of registration in 2016, led by banks who came to the market to obtain resources, some to meet capital adequacy and others for working capital'."
Among the issues registered this year is $250 million by Global Bank, Banco Prival, with $100 million, La Hipotecaria, with another $100 million and the Corporation Finance Country, with two issues which together total $80 million.
Issuances registered between January and September 2016 exceed 60% of the total issuances registered throughout 2015, and projections are that the year will close with $7 billion traded in the local market.
The scandal generated from the leaked information about the firm Mossack Fonseca, "Panama Papers", and the questions about the lack of financial transparency that arose afterwards, do not seem to have affected the attractiveness of the stock market for providing finance to companies through the issuance of securities.
The new regulation under public consultation states that all issues of securities registered with the Superintendency of Securities Market must have a risk rating.
The aim of the new regulations proposed by the Superintendency of Securities (SMV) is to provide more information on the emissions market for investors, so that they can"...
The Superintendency of Securities is working on a proposal that would make mandatory to have a risk rating on each debt issuance registered in the panamanian market.
The initiative put forward by the authorities of the Panamanian stock market comes days after the collapse of the Panamanian RG Hotels Company, which in 2012 issued bonds with unrated debt risk, leaving investors who bought these securities unprotected.
Equities and private debt led emissions in the stock market between January and October this year, which grew by 64% compared to the amounts recorded in 2014.
The advantages of financing in a stock market with the features that Panama's has, has attracted local and foreign companies, who have increased the number of issues, of both equity and debt securities and other instruments.