By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemdia.net
The Bahamas Central Securities Depository’s (BCSD) new website will allow shareholders to have instant access to critical information on Bahamian publicly-traded companies, its president telling Tribune Business that educating and informing investors is key to growing the capital markets.
Nerika Burrows, the BCSD’s president, said the website launch marked a major milestone that coincided with its sixth anniversary.
The website, developed by AdWorks Multimedia Marketing, will allow Bahamian shareholders access to an events calendar that highlights scheduled dividend payments by BISX-listed companies, as well as annual general meeting (AGM) dates.
The website will also address the most frequently asked questions by investors, and features downloadable forms required for processing transactions.
“Publicly-traded companies engage us to take care of their shareholders, and that means that we make sure that the shareholders get their dividends when they are declared,” Ms Burrows said.
“We also take care and organise all of the annual general meetings. We send out all the AGM documents. We are also responsible for all of the registers of shareholders and, on any given day, we should be able to confirm who owns what shares in this country. We’re basically responsible for tens of thousands of shareholders and their information.”
Ms Burrows added: “We are now launching our website, and on this website will provide information that is important to shareholders. We have a lot of traffic in our office with shareholders coming in for information, wanting to do transfers, coming to collect dividend cheques, and so what we have done is provide all the information they need about a company.
“We have put out all of the information about the annual reports for companies like Cable Bahamas, FOCOL and Commonwealth Brewery. We have made all this information accessible on our website. They can also get information about when they are going to get their dividend payments, when the annual general meetings are going to be held, and also download our required forms, so that when someone in your family passes you can download a form, fill it out, upload it, scan it and e-mail it back to us. You don’t have to make a trip into our offices.”
Ms Burrows said the website will be used to primarily provide shareholders with information, but will also educate them as well.
“This is an important milestone for us. We want to use this primarily to provide information, and secondly to provide education,” she said.
“We believe strongly that a more educated and informed shareholder can make better, more savvy decisions. We have found that people own shares and don’t understand what they own.
“We are trying to get the information out to people that they need to come to the AGMs, get more engaged and get their children involved. We plan to go into the schools to start talking to kids about investments, because the only way we are going to grow the capital markets is to get people more educated and in a position to want to become a part of it.”
Ms Burrows said the BCSD is set to embark on a campaign to allow for direct dividend deposits to registered shareholder bank accounts.
“We are going to do a major campaign. Right now, the majority of our shareholders get a cheque in the mail,” she explained. “We are going to send out shareholder information forms, which are on the website, where shareholders can go and provide bank account information.
“Dividends go right to you bank account. It will go directly to your bank account and you won’t have to wait for a cheque in the mail or come to our offices. We are preparing to integrate with the exchange [BISX} so that when something goes across the exchange, everything gets automatically updated on our end. Right now that doesn’t happen because papers have to be signed and moved around, and then we update our system.”
The BCSD was incorporated as a joint venture between Royal Fidelity Merchant Bank & Trust, Colina Financial Advisors (CFAL) and the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) in 2009, and is registered with the Securities Commissionas a Clearing Facility under the Securities Industry Act.
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