In contrast, other banking institutions held 6.7 percent equity. If the top 20 firms held the same equity capital levels as other smaller banking institutions, they would require $ billion in new equity or reduced assets of over $ trillion, or some combination of both. (See attached charts.)
Another indicator of the degree of cross-border ownership is that seven of the ten largest firms (by asset size) listed on the stock exchanges of Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are financial institutions. Given the multi-faceted nature of the challenges facing Caribbean small states, no single solution exists to address all of their problems.