The National Power and Light company is preparing for midyear to issue preference shares for an amount estimated at between $50 and $100 million.
In order to address the financial crisis, improve the equity structure and pay in 2017 $28 million in bond debts, the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL) will be issuing preferred shares for an estimated $50 to $100 million. To date there has not been any confirmation of the number of shares to be issued.
It has been stated that the tax on returns generated from stock market operations has discouraged investment in the country and constitutes a disadvantage compared to neighboring markets.
This 20% tax on returns from each operation has become a competitive disadvantage for the country, as investors prefer tax free markets where they are fewer barriers to investment.
Banks authorized by the Superintendency of Securities may perform operations of clearing and settlement of securities in the stock market, which until now has only been done by brokerage houses.
With this modification in the regulations banks may provide more support for trading by its investors, providing the service of clearing and settlement of securities transactions which previously were only handled by brokerage houses.
Low interest rates, uncertainty and a declining share of securities issued by the government explain the 15% drop in the number of trades in 2014 compared to 2013.
A few days after the end of the trading year, the stock market is preparing to close 2014 with numbers lower than 2013, following the downward trend in the number of transactions seen since 2009.
Grupo Improsa de Costa Rica has repurchased from Grupo Prival 50% of the shares in the stockbrokerage firm Improsa Valores, which had been sold to the Panamanian company in December 2013.
The Relevant Fact was published by the Superintendency of Securities of Costa Rica:
The Securities Commission of British Columbia in Canada, has issued a resolution barring the two top executives of Petaquilla from trading shares of the company until financial information is presented for the period ending July 2014.
Problems continue for Petaquilla Minerals, which breached a salary payment arrangement that should have been finalized in October and it has now been reported that two of its executives have been banned from buying or selling shares in the company.
New legislation prevents operating as a stockbroker those entities who do not have a license issued by the Superintendency of Securities, among other changes.
In 2013, 11 agreements were approved, while so far this year five have been approved, which contemplate limits for exercising the office of broker or analyst.
Between January and September $4.25 billion were traded in the stock market, up from the $3.093 billion traded in the same period in 2013.
The months reporting the largest amounts were March, with $697.5 million and July, with $578.6 million, while the months reporting lower volumes were January at $317.9 million and February at $335.4 million.
Amendments to securities regulations are being prepared in order to allow local stock brokers to buying shares of listed companies in developed markets.
This change in regulations and operational infrastructure will give access to the purchase of shares of international companies listed on stock markets such as New York.
Following the decision by the Colombian authorities, the costs of financial and tax transactions between the two countries will increase.
The absence of Panama's signing of an agreement to exchange tax information with Colombia has led authorities of that country to include Panama in the list of uncooperative countries. The main objective of Colombia "... is to close the doors for people hiding money in other countries."
The International Organization of Securities Commission has suspended the country's right to vote as a member because it has not yet signed the agreement to provide information on stock market investigations.
The IOSCO's decision to suspend voting rights for the country as a member of the organization comes after the entity warned the authorities, repeatedly, about the need for regulation which would provide information to banks and financial institutions from other markets in cases of investigations.
The placement of Panamanian securities through the Bloomberg platform will mean greater exposure to global investors and consequently increased demand.
It is expected that the Comptroller General's Office will endorse, no later than December, a contract to operate in the Bloomberg platform. From that moment the Panama Stock Exchange will no longer be used to issue Panamanian Government securities.
An announcement has been made that in the short-term auctions of securities by Panamanian State will no longer be made in the local market and instead will be carried out through the Bloomberg platform.
Given the lack of investment in technology on the part of Panamastock exchange, the government has announced that it will begin making the auctions using the Bloomberg platform. The will allow for more transparent transactions by the State.
For "breaching the obligations of the issuer" the Stock Exchange has suspended indefinitely trading bonds and VNC's by the financial company La Generosa.
From a statement issued by the Panama Stock Exchange:
"... We wish to inform the public that, in addition to the suspension of trading of corporate bonds by Finanzas y Créditos del Hogar, S.A., for $ 4 million, effective yesterday, the stock market in Panama has decided to suspend from today and indefinitely, negotiation of corporate bonds and commercial negotiation values (VCN's) by the issuer listed on the Exchange.
Market actors in El Salvador claim that transactions are being subjected to double retention, both by brokerage firms and the bank related to it.
Because of the speed with which the financial sector has been forced to comply with the withholding tax on financial transactions, effective from September 1st this year, the same market participants are claiming that investors are suffering because they are being billed the tax twice on each transaction.
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