Stock Exchange legislation with AG’s Chambers – Jordan

…shortage of human resource contributing to delay
Government has revealed that legislation for Guyana’s Stock Exchange is currently sitting in the Attorney General’s Chambers, and has taken a back burner to other pieces of legislation partly because the AG’s Chambers are short of human resources.

Finance Minister Winston Jordan explained during a recent press conference that the bill has been drafted for a while now. In fact, it was there long before recently passed bills like the Cybercrime Bill.
“The comprehensive bill for the stock exchange has been drafted a while now. It is with the Attorney General’s Chambers. Comprehensive bits of legislation have been drafted. Those are also with the Attorney General’s Chambers. The AG’s Chambers are challenged by way of human resources, and so those bills have been relegated in terms of priorities so that other bills can get in, such as the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Bill.”
“Last week (it was) the Cybercrime Bill,” he pointed out. “The week before, (it was) my four financial bills, and so on. So a number of bills have overtaken the Stock Exchange Bill, (which) was there well before those bills came out. There are other bills that will overtake them, like the Sovereign Wealth Fund. But eventually, sometime next year, we are hoping to pass comprehensive legislation for the stock exchange,” Minister Jordan detailed.
Locally, the Guyana Association of Securities Companies and Intermediaries (GASCI) is the recognised stock exchange. It is a self-regulatory organisation registered with the Guyana Securities Council to carry on business as a stock exchange and an association of securities companies and intermediaries.
GASCI consists of four member firms which provide broker services for customers who wish to buy and sell shares on the stock market, and these are Trust Company (Guyana) Ltd, Guyana Americas Merchant Bank Inc, Beharry Stockbrokers Ltd, and Hand-in-Hand Trust Corporation Inc (formerly GNCB Trust Corporation Inc). Trust Company (Guyana) Ltd, Beharry Stockbrokers Ltd and Hand-in-Hand Trust Corporation Inc are also represented on the Board of Directors of GASCI.  The member firms of GASCI are registered as brokers with the Guyana Securities Council.
Jordan also noted that, from henceforth, the bank will be assuming an increasingly more prevalent role in the management of the economy. An example of this is credit unions.
According to the Minister, there will be moves to bring these unions under the purview of central bank.
“Right now, consideration is in respect of credit unions. You know, those are quite a few, but we’re trying to bring those under the purview of the central bank in terms of supervision,” the Minister explained.