The sluggish integrated regional stock exchange of Colombia, Chile and Peru – MILA – needs “nurturing,” said the president of the Colombia Stock Exchange.
Juan Pablo Cordoba, president of Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (Colombia Stock Exchange) said “the baby was born but needs to be nurtured,” in reference to the challenge to increase the volume of trade, reported Bloomberg.
MILA, Latin America’s first combined trading platform, totaled 183 transactions May 30 through September 16, valued at $2.9 million. In comparison, in Brazil’s equity market average daily trading is $4 billion according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“When there’s a lack of confidence, people tend to invest in what’s close to home,” said Rupert Stebbings, Colombia’s country manager for Celfin Capital SA.
Stebbings also put forward reasons why trading on the Mila platform has been so lackluster. He believes it may have been damped by global market turmoil and the election of Ollanta Humala to the Peruvian presidency, which triggered concern that state control of the economy would increase.
The 23 cross-border accords that have been signed by brokerage firms in the different South American countries are a signal that MILA will gain momentum.