Capital Markets
Tool to Conduct Capital Markets Assessments in Developing Countries
This tool was developed to assist with capital markets diagnoses in developing countries. It is based on a comprehensive questionnaire developed by Robert Strahota with support from USAID EGAT.
Design and Methodology
This tool is designed to be used independently to obtain and assess information considered necessary for the development and regulation of markets for equity or corporate debt securities.
The tool may also be used for a broader financial sector assessment. In such circumstances, it may not be necessary to use some of the questions that pertain to topics addressed in other components of the broader assessment process.
The tool has four sections: Sections 1 and 2 assess the existence or potential to develop organized public markets for equity and corporate debt securities. Sections 3 and 4 pertain to legal and regulatory infrastructure conditions and developing market components. Depending on the answer to Sections 1 and 2, it may not be necessary to complete all of Sections 3 and 4.
Application of the Capital Markets Assessment Tool
· Azerbaijan: Capital Markets Action Plan, March 19, 2009
· Developing Azerbaijan’s Capital Market: An Assessment, March 19, 2009
Both documents prepared for The Azerbaijan State Committee for Securities and USAID, Azerbaijan by William G.G. Baldridge, Senior Financial Markets Advisor, USAID and Donald R. Hart, Senior Capital Markets Advisor, Chemonics, International, Inc.
Mr. Baldridge has an insider’s view of financial systems and financial sector issues, having worked as a US Treasury Bond trader and member of the Chicago Board of Trade. He served USAID as the financial sector advisor in the Central Asia Mission for two years, followed by three years in USAID’s Washington headquarters. In 2001, he transferred to Treasury and served as a regional government debt advisor, based in Dakar, Senegal. Subsequently, he served as Treasury’s financial attaché in Kabul, Afghanistan, then as Treasury’s deputy director for the Middle East office. Mr. Baldridge recently re-joined USAID and works as a senior financial sector advisor to the agency, based in Washington D.C.
Mr. Hart is a commercial legal and business development specialist, with 25 years of emerging market private sector development, business competitiveness, and corporate governance. He has served as chief of party or the equivalent management position on nine USAID projects the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe, and India, all of which focused on various aspects of economic growth and development, including trade and investment, corporate governance practices, and financial market development. He has also served as general counsel to various domestic and multinational organizations and gained extensive hands-on experience not only in the technical legal issues involved in international trade and investment. Mr. Hart has planned, designed, and implemented numerous development programs, including legal and regulatory drafting initiatives, privatization and restructuring of state-owned enterprises, establishment of a corporate governance task force, through training initiatives focused in areas including corporate restructuring techniques, corporate governance practices, and the attraction of investors
Mr. Strahota is the sole principal of Strahota Capital Markets LLC, which provides securities and corporate governance consulting services for emerging capital markets. He has served as Assistant Director in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of International Affairs. Mr. Strahota has provided capital markets training and assistance in 40 emerging market countries. He began his career in 1964 in the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, where he served as a financial analyst and branch chief. He has also practiced law,specializing in securities, corporate and partnership law. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, and the American Bar Association Section of Business Law and its Federal and State Regulation of Securities Committees. He was previously an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where he taught a course on Global Securities Markets. He has also lectured at Warsaw University and the Government Law College in Mumbai, India. Mr. Strahota is the recipient of an Officer's Cross for meritorious service to the Republic of Poland and the Financial Services Volunteer Corps annual Outstanding Volunteer award. Upon his retirement in 2005, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from USAID for 14 years of organizing critical technical assistance for emerging securities markets.