Bermuda Stock Exchange Releases 2018 Year End Review - Exchange News Direct

Highlights: BSX continues its strong contribution to Bermuda’s position as a centre of excellence for the creation, support and listing of Insurance Linked Securities (ILS) vehicles while welcoming new entities to trading membership and continuing its support of domestic market investor education.

The Bermuda Stock Exchange (the “Exchange” or “BSX”) reported today that BSX’s continued support of the global Insurance Linked Securities asset class resulted in a record number of issuers listed on the Exchange in 2018.

In making the year-end announcement, BSX President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Wojciechowski stated, “In 2018, the BSX continued to work with the Bermuda market to fortify the jurisdiction’s position as a centre of excellence for the creation, support and listing of global ILS vehicles. The BSX closed 2018 with a record number of listed ILS vehicles. We are particularly pleased that BSX listing services are being sought for vehicles domiciled in a variety of other jurisdictions. In addition, we continue to see an increase in the number of global debt issuers that chose the BSX as their listing venue of choice. The increase in year on year activity has caught the attention of service providers in the Bermuda market and the BSX was delighted to welcome new entities to BSX Listing Sponsor and Trading Membership in 2018. This will no doubt create new business opportunities not only for Bermuda but the BSX as well.”

He added, “The accomplishments of the BSX to date, and in particular this year’s results, are directly attributable to the hard work of a dedicated team of world class stock exchange professionals that manage and operate the Exchange on a daily basis. The BSX team clearly understands the importance of a modern and solid domestic capital market, how the BSX platform is central to this and how all the pieces collectively contribute to the health and development of Bermuda’s economy.

The BSX team is committed to ensuring that Bermuda’s stock exchange platform remains the leader amongst its peers internationally while providing global capital market access and solid support for local market users.

Commenting on the year, BSX Chief Compliance Officer, Mr. James McKirdy stated, “In 2018, the BSX saw positive listing activity across most sectors. Listing activity was strong in international debt and insurance linked securities (ILS) with both again reaching record levels.”

International debt listings grew to 201 securities in 2018. Up 20% from 167 the previous year with their nominal value growing $4.6 billion to $7.0 billion.

The BSX also supported and listed the Government of Bermuda’s new $620 million issue of Senior Notes.

New ILS listings totaled 125 securities for the year with a nominal value of $11.23 billion. This represents growth of 20% in terms of the number of new securities listed in the year and a 3% decline in the nominal value. At the year end the total number of ILS securities listed stood at 302 securities with a total nominal value of $ $30.92 billion.

The Exchange also listed 31 new collective investment vehicles, 1 new equity and 7 new derivatives. A further 3 subsequent issues were also processed by the BSX.

De-listings in the year again followed a normal pattern and were mainly comprised of time-limited securities which matured as part of the normal course of business.

At year end the were a total of 988 listed securities compared to 867 in 2017.

The RG/BSX Index closed the year at 1,958.99 down 11.04 % from 2017, in line with global markets.

Trading volume increased in 2018 to 3.9 million shares traded. Correspondingly share value traded ended the year at $49.7 million.

The BSD, the domestic Central Counter Party (CCP) and Central Securities Depository (CSD), continued to ensure orderly settlement of trades and processing of all domestic corporate actions. At years’ end the BSD held 62% of all domestic listed securities in custody equaling that of last year. The BSX ended the year with a total market capitalisation of $351 billion, $2.4 billion of which represented the domestic market.

Remarking on 2018 Operations Manager Neville Caines noted, “From an operational perspective the most significant highlight was embarking on the America’s Central Securities Depository Association (ACSDA) Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure (PFMI) study.” The study will be completed in 2019, keeping BSX in line with the goal of global harmonization of exchange settlement principles and thus, further aligning Bermuda with much larger CSD’s seeking to reduce settlement risk and improve capital efficiency.

2018 also saw the continuation and completion of a variety of important projects within the technology group of the Exchange which included older systems being replaced with more secure systems and BSX firewall and intruder detection systems enhanced as well as the implementation of a series of new monitoring systems deployed to guard against continuing cybersecurity threats. Our partnership with NASDQ continues with upgrades to our Trading, Settlement, Depository, and web site systems planned for early 2019. Cybersecurity remains a priority at the BSX with continual improvements being made to all systems to fortify the Exchange’s protection of its data.

As part of its ongoing commitment to the Domestic Capital Market, the BSX continued in 2018 to expand its “Own Your Share of Bermuda” investor education awareness programme. Successful partnerships with organizations such as CFA Society Bermuda, The Olderhood Group Ltd., Bermuda and The Royal Gazette, expanded the Exchange’s outreach, providing new venues to promote the importance of investor literacy in Bermuda.

Commenting on the “Own Your Share of Bermuda” initiative, the Exchange’s CEO, Mr. Wojciechowski noted: “We were very pleased with the positive response the initial campaign received from the public as well as from our domestic listed issuers and sought to build momentum by supporting a similar event in 2018. Once again, the event was aligned with the International Organisation of Securities Commissions World Investor Week and was successful in increasing domestic investor education, literacy and awareness of investment opportunities right here at home in Bermuda.”

In closing Mr. Wojciechowski stated, “2018 was another solid year for the Exchange as we continued to expand our global reach and develop our domestic market. The focus in 2019 will be continued expansion of our international outreach with a view to creating new strategic partnerships that will enhance the Exchange’s global reputation, with the ultimate goal of deriving a sound return on investment for our shareholders. Domestically, we will continue to work with our members in a determined effort to support the domestic capital market by expanding our ‘Own Your Share of Bermuda’ investor education programme, initiating new and creative ways to expand and diversify share ownership and increase trade activity and investor participation.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)