Panamanian Stock Exchange seeks to become the international hub of the capital market

In 2021, after 31 years of operation, the Panama Stock Exchange became the Latin American Stock Exchange (Latinex) in order to project itself as the international hub of the stock market.

In its quest to develop the local market, the Latin American Stock Exchange (Latinex) and Central Latinoamericana de Valores (Latinclear) identify initiatives that contribute to its growth this year, including negotiable invoices and ETFs, or traded funds.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Panama

The dynamism of Latinex was demonstrated in 2021, when at the close the total trading volume was US$9.461 billion, a figure that exceeds the US$8.126 billion traded in 2020 and which stands 16.4% above this figure, making 2021 in a record year.

In the reference year, the primary market registered a volume of US$6.945 billion, which represented 22.4% more than what was traded in 2020.

The secondary market, for its part, also had an increase compared to the previous year, since US$2.305 billion were traded, representing an increase of 11.9%, and in terms of repurchases, they totaled US$211 million, explained at the time Lerzy Batista, general manager of Latinclear, according to an institutional press release.

He highlights the information that the trading volume in the integrated markets also had good results, both due to remote operators and correspondent agreements.

During 2021, a traded volume of US$160 million was achieved, for which the cumulative total since the start of the integration amounted to US$409 million in more than 1,700 operations.

“Latinex remains firm in its objective of becoming the international hub of the capital market. In 2021, 23 new issuers were listed, representing 9% of the total at the end of the year, where in turn it is worth noting the list of 5 new international issuers”, he indicated.

Meanwhile, the figures from January to October 31, 2022 report that transactions for a volume of US$5.315 billion were negotiated, 36.5% less than the same period in 2021.

In Panama, investor protection in the stock market is of the utmost importance for the Superintendency of the Stock Market as a regulatory entity, said Maruquel Murgas, director of the Supervision and Intermediaries Directorate of this government entity, during the recent Investors Forum, organized by Latinex.

Murgas added that this is in line with the recommendations of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which proposes that regulators protect investors from the misconduct of intermediaries, from deceptive practices, from market manipulation and the use of privileged information.

The Investors Forum was attended by more than a thousand attendees, between virtual and face-to-face participation, who were part of the activity from more than 22 countries.

With information from Bloomberg Línea

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