What Is The Barbados Stock Exchange?

Founded in 1987, the Barbados Stock Exchange is a privately-owned not for profit stock exchange made up of loosely-affiliated stock brokers and dealers. It’s run on an electronic, not outcry, basis, which has made it very easy for customers and entrepreneurs to take advantage of new technologies. It is headquartered in Bridgetown, Barbados, but can be accessed from all over the world. The Barbados Stock Exchange is one of three large regional Caribbean exchanges, the other two of which are Jamaica and Trinidad. But because of Barbados’s relatively open financial system and strong economy, it’s probably the most financially secure and stable. Most items traded on this stock exchange are commodities and financial instruments, and hold pretty stable prices. The time to watch this exchange is during hurricane season, when large nasty storms can take a real bite out of the commodity value. But the financial parts of the Barbados Stock Exchange include not only local companies but international ones, and it is steadily growing in value. If you’re looking for a good stock index to invest in, the Barbados Stock Exchange is worth a look. It has surprisingly good numbers for a small regional exchange, and will probably grow in importance over the future. Since its inception in 1989, the Barbados Stock Exchange index value has more than doubled. You can probably

expect this trend to continue. Besides its strong numbers, the Barbados Stock Exchange has a major advantage over many established and emerging stock exchanges worldwide: it is in a stable part of the globe, and it appears to hold no interest for terrorists. It is not subject to the volatile oil market, nor is it subject to the current unrest in the world that makes the New York Stock Exchange and other major markets more unstable and subject to movement than one might want. Barbados is also a free market economy, which makes it much friendlier to trade. In short, the Barbados Stock Exchange may be a good bet for future index investing. At the very least, it’s worth a look.