CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Ellis, Sherika La-Monia La-Yvonne |
|---|---|
| Title | Protecting Investors in Jamaica: Are Civil Remedies in the Enforcement of Securities Regulation the Solution? |
| Summary | From 2006, several unregistered financial organizations operating in breach of Jamaican securities laws infiltrated and realized exponential growth in the securities markets. Around the same time, licensed securities market participants also contravened securities laws. The Financial Services Commission (“FSC”), the non-banking regulatory agency, failed to significantly reduce investors’ exposure to losses in its enforcement of securities market regulations. As a result, investors experienced losses amounting to billions of Jamaican Dollars. These losses impacted countries within the region as well as the USA. Subsequently, in December 2013, there were amendments to the Jamaican securities laws, to introduce a broad range of civil and administrative remedies to be imposed on securities market participants engaging in illicit behaviour in the securities markets. But, why was the FSC enforcement programme not effective in investor protection? Was it the lack of sufficient remedies that caused losses to investors? To address these questions, this paper examines the FSC’s enforcement practices to determine the factors that impacted investor protection. Using a series of elite interviews complemented by desk based research and case studies the paper reports on the FSC’s enforcement practices prior to the amendments and distils the factors inhibiting investor protection. I find that civil remedies can be effective for investor protection. However, I also find that investors receive the greatest protection when there are (1) clear policies and guideline for enforcement action (2) an effective monitoring framework (3) decisive management and (4) active enforcement of applicable laws to violations. |
| Supervisor | Bokros, Lajos |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/ellis_sherika.pdf |
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