Bolsa y Mercados de Valores de la República Dominicana

During April 1980, a group of Dominican industrialists began to meet with the intention of formalizing a stock market and creating a regulating body guarded by the transparency and the efficiency of the operations in this market. This group consisted of Ricardo Valdéz Albízu, Hector Rizek, Ramón Mena, Winston Marrero, Otto Montero, Frederic Eman-Zadé, Luis Sabater and Rosendo Alvarez III. During 1987 this original group contacted, Robert Bishop, the former vice-president of the New York Stock Exchange, to assist with the markets creation. The Dominican Republic's first stock exchange finally came into legal existence under Presidential Decree No. 554-89 that was passed on February 20, 1989, but actually did not begin formal operations until December 1991. It was originally known as the Bolsa de Valores de Santo Domingo Inc. In 1997, as a result of the fact that its activities extended into other cities of the country, it changed its name to Bolsa de Valores de la República Dominicana. This means that the market is still relatively new, and the concept of both an equity and capital market is just coming into consciousness. Despite the limitations resulting from inadequate legislation, transactions at the BVRD grew steadily during the 1990s.