Just an update.
SEVILLE, Spain, June 4 (Reuters) - Spain should press ahead with plans to create a new market for Latin American stocks before other countries get in on the act, a senior private banker said on Friday.
"If we don't give an answer from Spain for the creation of an exchange for Latin American stocks, Germany or Great Britain will do so," Angel Corcostegui, vice-chairman of Spain's biggest bank BSCH, told a finance conference.
The Madrid stock exchange plans to launch a market on which initially 12 Latin American companies would trade later this year, to be increased to 40 or 50 stocks later.
Corcostegui pointed to a flood of major investments by Spanish companies in the region which he said amounted to about five trillion pesetas (about $31 billion) this decade, making Spain the second biggest investor in Latin America after the United States.
Currently, Latin American stocks make up about four percent of foreign stocks held by European investment funds, Corcostegui said.
The creation of a market for Latin American stocks in Spain would raise the knowledge of the area in Europe and allow investors to buy stocks in one, unified market, he said.
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