by Stacey Russell

THERE IS NO IMMEDIATE NEED to modify legislation governing the capital market in Barbados.

That was the assessment of the local Securities Commission chairman, Sir Neville Nicholls, who spoke on the progress made by the Sir Henry Forde-led committee launched three years ago to review the Securities Act, the Mutual Funds Act and some sections of the Companies Act.

"I would not say there is any emergency that requires immediate revision of the legislation. Differences in the regulations are bound to occur where you have different jurisdictions," Sir Neville told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.

He also responded to suggestions that savvy companies were outwitting regulators across the regional capital markets, and forthcoming recommendations from the local committee might not effectively keep pace with the dynamics of the trading environment.

"The majority of the committee members are practitioners in the market so they are au fait with all that is taking place. Therefore I'm confident that their recommendations will take into account all the recent developments in the market and the trends," the attorney-at-law and economist noted.

A flurry of takeover activity this year has driven trading on the Barbados Stock Exchange, with 155.79 million shares traded up to September this year, up from 8.89 million the previous year.

Regarding the time it was taking the committee to complete its work, he said the countries could either use the resources of this voluntary group, or "engage consultants to carry out an exercise . . . and in the end all they do is talk to the same practitioners, then make recommendations and charge a lot of money."