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The Council of the International Association of Exchanges of the CIS Countries (IAEx of CIS) has held a meeting in Alma Ata. The meeting was attended by A. Potemkin, President of the MICEX (Russia), A. Dzholdasbekov, President of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchanges (Kazakhstan), I. Zarya, President of the PFTS Stock Exchange (Ukraine), P.Tsekhanovich, Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange (Belarus), T. Tohtabaev, Chairman of the Board of the Uzbek Republican Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange (Uzbekistan) and F. Amirbekov, Managing Director of the Baku Interbank Currency Exchange (Azerbaijan).
Heads of exchanges discussed the current state and the future of national financial markets in the CIS countries and appointed the Technological Policy Committee of the Association.
One of the main issues discussed at the meeting was cooperation with national banks for the development of markets in the face of growing tension in the world financial markets. Participants in the meeting noted that exchanges were actively launching new financial instruments which help national (central) banks to implement an effective money and credit policy. They also noted that the mortgage lending crisis in the United States and some Western countries was a test of the strength of the CIS countries’ national financial systems. The cirsis combined with difficulties in refinancing debt obligations of banks and companies and a temporary outflow of non-residents’ funds. According to the head of the MICEX Alexander Potemkin, so far, we have successfully stood this test. The CIS countries have been able to maintain stability of their banking systems and their financial markets, even though the situation in developed countries’ debt and stock markets is deteriorating. In particular, in recent years, repo operations involving instruments of the securities market have become popular on the MICEX along with swaps involving USD/RUR and EUR/RUR instruments, which directly or indirectly enable the Bank of Russia to regulate liquidity in the financial and banking system. Thus, the active use of financial instruments traded on exchanges can help to overcome the shock effects of the global financial market on the banking systems of the CIS countries.
Heads of exchanges discussed the formation of the exchange infrastructure in the CIS. It was noted that on-exchange markets were developing rapidly in the CIS countries. In 2007, the total volume of on-exchange transactions organized by the members of the IAEx of CIS amounted to $3.1 trillion, 1.8 times more than in the previous year.
Participants in the meeting noted that the CIS countries were taking efforts to integrate their financial markets. The first meeting of the working group of experts devoted to the harmonization of the legislation of the CIS countries will be held on 20-21 March 2008 in Tashkent. The working group will analyze the legislation in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Uzbekistan to see how effectively it secures the operation of the securities market (laws on the securities market, the stock market and joint-stock companies).
The Council adopted the Statute of the Technological Policy Committee of the IAEx. The decision to establish the Committee was taken on August 3, 2007, by the General Meeting of the Association in Rostov-on-Don. The Statute determines the order of the work of the Committee and its role in the development of information technologies, which become especially important because of the need to regularly upgrade and modernize the electronic trading systems used by exchanges - members of the Association, given the rapid growth of trade volumes in the CIS countries. The Council of the IAEx of CIS also adopted the composition of the Committee.
The Council of the Association decided to hold the next General Meeting of the IAEx of CIS in Minsk (Belarus) from 7 to 10 July 2008.
Background information: The International Association of Exchanges of the CIS Countries was established in 2000, in Moscow, to coordinate the development of organized financial markets in accordance with international standards. The IAEx of the CIS is comprised of 18 exchanges and 3 depositories from 9 countries of the Commonwealth which play a key role in servicing the mutual financial turnover, operations with currency, government securities and stocks.
