Latin American International Financial Exchange
Encyclopedia
The Latin American International Financial Exchange (or LAIFEX) is a proposed electronic central trading and exchange facility, which will be housed in the Independent Financial Centre of the Americas
(IFCA) in the Dominican Republic
. Its primary activities will be to facilitate primary and secondary debt trading between Latin American countries and around the globe.
It will access a market in excess of USD $2.94 trillion of annually traded regional debt - accounting in 2004 for 63.2% of trade in emerging market debt
. At present there is no central platform to clear and settle locally denominated trading in Latin America.
LAIFEX will include a private stock exchange
where members can apply for seats, and the information technology
platform being custom-buiilt for the IFCA can service a regional stock exchange to give companies from around the world access to new capital. If plans go well, the exchange could start running electronically by 2007.
Independent Financial Centre of the Americas
The Independent Financial Centre of the Americas is the world's first privately operated and independently regulated international financial centre. It was officially established on 10 March 2006 and is being built and operated in the city of Guayacanes in the Dominican Republic...
(IFCA) in the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. Its primary activities will be to facilitate primary and secondary debt trading between Latin American countries and around the globe.
It will access a market in excess of USD $2.94 trillion of annually traded regional debt - accounting in 2004 for 63.2% of trade in emerging market debt
Emerging Market Debt
Emerging market debt is a term used to encompass bonds issued by less developed countries. It does not include borrowing from government, supranational organizations such as the IMF or private sources, though loans that are securitized and issued to the markets would be included...
. At present there is no central platform to clear and settle locally denominated trading in Latin America.
LAIFEX will include a private stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
where members can apply for seats, and the information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
platform being custom-buiilt for the IFCA can service a regional stock exchange to give companies from around the world access to new capital. If plans go well, the exchange could start running electronically by 2007.