.jpg)
The annual Stock Exchange Day was held on Tuesday 28 April 2008 in the Hemicycle of the Conference Centre of Luxembourg-Kirchberg. This event was attended by 800 guests drawn from Luxembourg’s economic, social and financial circles.
In the opening speech, Raymond Kirsch, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, examined the activity on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 2008 and presented the major strategic directions and initiatives of the company.
Mr Kirsch highlighted the challenges posed by the global crisis, including how the Luxembourg Stock Exchange has been affected and the strategies put in place to address it. He also recalled the timely actions and promising projects initiated by the company.
The Chairman of the Board then introduced the guest speaker of the evening, Mr. Klaus-Peter Müller, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Commerzbank AG, who delivered a speech on: “Towards a new world economic order - the role of security”. In view of the financial crisis, Mr Müller drew attention to the importance of security in the context of a new world economic order. He also presented his reflections on the consequences and the lessons to be learned for political, economic and social development.
In his closing speech, Michel Maquil, Chairman of the Executive Committee, firstly presented the latest step taken by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange as part of its partnership with NYSE Euronext, the recent migration of all its securities to the "Universal Trading Platform” (UTP).
He then stressed the determination of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange to play its role as regards transparency of information on securities markets. This is of increasing importance in the present circumstances, particularly with regard to protecting the interests of investors.
Finally, he described the developments of Finest S.A., the subsidiary of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, whose change of name and corporate identity reflected the expansion of the company within a European framework. This was notably evidenced by its participation in two major projects of EFAMA: the introduction of the European Fund Classification (EFC) and the publishing of Fund Processing Passports.
Following the conference, guests were able to attend demonstrations of the internet portals, products, services and applications that the Stock Exchange and Finesti make available to their customers; in particular the e-file platform. This is used for the registration of financial instruments available to the public and for sending regulatory reports to the supervisory authorities.
