Mondo Visione Worldwide Financial Markets Intelligence

FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index:

New Corresponding Members Of Federation of European Securities Exchanges

Date 25/02/2005

The Members of FESE have decided unanimously to accept three exchanges from Western Balkan countries as Corresponding Exchanges: the Belgrade SE, the Macedonian SE and the Varaždin SE. The new status will take effect from 1st March, 2005.

The Belgrade Stock Exchange recently celebrated its 110th anniversary, but has had its relaunch in the early 90’s and again in 2003. It cooperates with the Exchanges in Athens, Luxembourg and Ljubljana in the areas of IT and information dissemination.

The Macedonian Stock Exchange in Skopje has been operative since 1996 and became fully demutualised in 2001. It cooperates with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange and other Exchanges in the Balkans in the area of information dissemination.

The Varaždin Stock Exchange is the second Exchange in Croatia beside the Zagreb Stock Exchange . It was created by leading Croatian banks and brokers as an alternative to the central marketplace and gained an Exchange license in 2002. It operates on the trading system also used in Slovenia by the Ljubljana SE.

Corresponding Exchange status is seen by FESE as the first step towards a further deepening of relations between the Brussels-based Federation and Exchanges in emerging European markets. The status is usually of high reputational value for the Exchange in its national environment as it demonstrates the ability of the exchange to make progress to match the regulatory and other quality standards that all FESE Members apply.