Conclusions from meeting of representatives of Central European Stock Exchanges

On March 4, 1999, representatives of Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, and Warsaw Stock Exchanges met at the consultative meeting in Prague with aim to discuss present position of exchanges and possibilities of further co-operation. Representatives of Central European Stock Exchanges discussed the following issues: The position of the above exchanges on the emerging pan-European capital market, especially the integration activities of exchanges in London, Paris, and Frankfurt; The position towards the "East-European Exchange" in Vienna, as a joint venture of the Vienna Share Exchange, and Deutsche Börse in Frankfurt; Opportunities of co-operation of concerned exchanges in the process of harmonisation of exchange trading rules, exchange membership issues, and listing procedures: Opinions of concerned exchanges on both "European" capital market standards and methods of their implementation in their domestic markets; Issues related to membership in both European and World Federation of Exchanges. Based on the summary of the discussion held on the above topics, participants have drawn the following conclusions: Participants in the consultation meeting emphasise that the purpose of their meeting is not to create a new initiative or organisation of East-European exchanges, but and exclusively, to co-ordinate their steps and to exchange their experience from association processes in Europe, taking into account similar level of both development and solution of analogous problems. Participating representatives of the exchanges expressed their interests in retaining the regional significance of their exchanges with the aim to ensure and further develop high-quality services provided to domestic and foreign traders and investors, especially with regard to medium-size and smaller-size stock issues. In the process of globalisation of European markets, the participating exchanges are interested in getting access to the emerging universal, globalised European market where, later on, even the presence of the most liquid issues from East-European countries is possible on the basis of mutual agreements. Participants in the meeting expressed their surprise with the declaration of an "East-European" exchange in Vienna that all the securities trades from markets in Central and Eastern Europe are supposed to concentrate to Vienna. Participants in the meeting declare their support of the conclusions drawn from the consultation meeting held by national capital market regulators in Warsaw, in December 1998, doing so, in particular, from viewpoint of the necessity to further develop well-regulated regional markets fully compatible with advanced West-European capital markets. Participants in the meeting decided to set up a working groups of experts (Expert Groups) which would discuss the options of further improvements in mutual compatibility of the existing exchange regulations applicable to trading, listing, market regulation, and exchange member supervision and surveillance.