Today the Athens Exchange and the Cyprus Stock Exchange in partnership with FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the global index provider, announced the introduction of a new index: the FTSE/ATHEX-CSE Banking Index. The new index will be launched on the 3rd November 2008 with a starting value of 2,000 index points.
The announcement comes at a period of turbulence in the global economy as a whole and the capital markets in particular. The new Index will focus on the banking sector of the two participating markets and is expected to complement the existing products offered by the two Exchanges. Moreover, it will allow investments in a well-established sector.
The FTSE/ATHEX-CSE Banking index will capture the performance of banks listed on the Athens and Cyprus stock exchanges. The index has been designed to form the basis for financial products that would allow investors to trade the banking sector in a single transaction.
Spyros Capralos, Chairman, ATHEX, said: “We are committed along with FTSE to the further development of our markets. The new index aims to provide to market participants a new benchmarking tool for the banking sector of the two markets. The new index will form the basis for financial products offering investors additional ways to gain exposure concurrently to this strong business sector. In the near future we are planning together with CSE to launch derivative products based on this common index giving the option to the investors, exposed to the cash market of the CSE, to gain additional leverage and hedging capabilities. The creation and the calculation of the index as well as the development of new products are performed timely and cost efficiently due to the existence of the common trading platform between the two markets.”
Imogen Dillon-Hatcher, Managing Director, FTSE Group EMEA added: “We are delighted to see the expansion of the successful FTSE/ATHEX and FTSE/CSE partnership. These enhancements come as a result of recent consultation with key market participants and prove FTSE’s commitment to ongoing excellence in the index space. ”
George Koufaris, Chairman of the CSE, added: “Further to the implementation of the Common Platform for trading in the two markets, the new index will provide a useful tool for investors to measure the performance of investment portfolios using FTSE standards. It also creates potential opportunities for the development of innovative investment products, thus enriching the market product on both Exchanges.
