NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Central Bank announced yesterday that beginning next month, new entrants into the registered stock or treasury bill market will have to go through a BISX-registered broker-dealer as the regulator will cease onboarding.
The regulator said in a notice yesterday that it is aligning its securities market operations with “best international practices and to accommodate recent reforms that allow government debt securities to actively trade over BISX”.
It also noted that the underlying costs to the financial market around these services will be more transparent and encourage further customer-oriented improvement in services and pricing efficiency.
The regulator noted that while historically it has in its capacity as registrar and transfer agent for Bahamas Registered Stock (BRS) and Treasury Bills (TB) facilitated primary and secondary market access to these securities to the general public, it will cease to offer such service to the general public effective January 2023.
Beginning April 1 through December 31 of this year, all existing Central Bank Bahamas government security clients will be required to transfer administration of their portfolios to a BISX-registered broker-dealer.
The Central Bank will cease to provide securities trading services on behalf of security holders, as these services will be available through BISX-registered broker-dealers with direct access to BISX and the Bahamas Government Securities Depository.
