New listing rules for equities and investment funds have been issued by the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) as a further development of its upgrade to the Deutsche Boerse’s Xetra trading platform.
Existing rules have been refined based on market and regulatory developments and some new rules have been established to accommodate the nature of specialist companies, particularly mineral companies and shipping companies, as well as investment funds, including exchange traded funds and forestry funds which may be seeking sophisticated investors.
New rules have also been established to provide adequate transparency and disclosure for the inclusion of retail investors, or those investing less than USD100,000 in listed companies.
Nick Small, head of listings, says: “We have issued new rules for equity securities that will benefit those specialist products that have specific listing needs and where Cayman has significant regional expertise, such as investment funds and shipping companies.”
The Cayman Islands is the largest domicile of offshore investment funds, with 11,209 funds registered (as at 30 June 2013), and is one of the world’s most well-recognised and respected ports of registry, with a substantial cadre of maritime service providers.
More modifications have been made to the general rules as well, including expanding the eligibility provisions with new requirements for corporate advisors to act for equity issuers open to retail investment; provisions for a fast-track procedure for the consideration of suitability for listing; and eligibility for electronic clearing and settlement to facilitate the CSX’s transition to a fully electronic exchange.
In March 2013 the CSX launched on Xetra, Deutsche Boerse’s international cash market platform for trading equities, bonds, warrants, exchange traded funds and other instruments. Xetra is used by 14 exchanges around the world from Frankfurt to Shanghai. The Xetra FIX (Financial Information eXchange protocol) Gateway offers simple and flexible access to all Xetra markets and the inclusion of the CSX means its market can be easily accessed through the XCAY portal for trading any CSX-listed securities, with zero trading fees.
