Banking and financial sectors have raised the need to devise a strategy to turn the country into an international financial center.
Alberto Diamond, Superintendent of Banks in Panama, said that as a society, they should establish a plan which involves the private sector, the public sector and the regulator. "We need to make a road map," he said.
Prensa.com reports: "The goal, ultimately, is to develop and integrate the capital, securities, insurance and banking markets, creating a system capable of supporting large and small projects, and whose natural vocation would be Latin America."
The amended regulations have now been published in the Official Gazette.
The new law regulating the securities market in Panama takes effect from 2 September, establishing how participants in the stock market must operate, and what regulations they must comply with.
The next step will be to turn the Comisión de Valores into a superintendency, which must be done within two months, as required by law.
Act 311 establishes a system of coordination and institutional cooperation between local financial control centers and creates a Superintendency of the Stock Market in the reform of Decree Law 1 of 1999 and Act 10 of 1993.
A statement by the National Assembly of Panama says that the financial system will be reordered and a Superintendency of the Stock Market created after the assembly passed the bill on its third reading.
The process seeks to find providers to assist in the sale of stock packages.
The tender is for purchase of services to advise the National Authority of Public Services in the process of selling the majority share packages of electricity distribution company Metro-Oeste SA, Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica Chiriquí and Elektra Noreste SA.
Date for submission of proposals is March 16, 2011.
The companies interested in participating asked the Public Utilities Authority to extend the deadline.
The bid is for a $ 1.3 million consultancy contract in the sale of share packages from Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica METRO-OESTE, S.A., Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica ELEKTRA NORESTE, S.A. and Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica CHIRIQUÍ, S.A.
The contract is for consultancy services to assist in the selling of shareholder packages.
The Panamanian Public Services Authority (ASEP) is to contract stock exchange consultancy services to process the sale of the majority stockholding in the electrical distribution companies, METRO-OESTE, S.A., ELEKTRA NORESTE, S.A. and CHIRIQUÍ, S.A.
The deadline for offers to be received is expected to be 29 October 2010.