Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali stated that the merger of the Belgrade Stock Exchange (Belex) and the Athens Stock Exchange (Athex) will enable the introduction of new financial instruments in Serbia, as well as access to large international investors to the Belgrade Stock Exchange, the Ministry of Finance announced.
Sinisa Mali said that this “strategic partnership will enable further development of the Belgrade Stock Exchange, and investors, both foreign and domestic, will have easier access to it.”
“We are particularly pleased that this partnership will provide visibility and access to the Belgrade Stock Exchange to large international investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, UBS, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and their clients,” pointed out Minister Mali.
According to him, the merger of the two stock exchanges is very important for Serbia, considering that the strategy for the development of the capital market is being drafted, it is stated in the announcement.
It is added that one of the key goals of capital market development in Serbia is accelerated growth of Serbia’s GDP, strengthening the domestic economy and raising the living standards of citizens, by providing new investment opportunities for both domestic and foreign companies, individuals and institutional investors.
“We will continue to work closely with the Belgrade Stock Exchange, and with new partners, a more efficient and accessible capital market will be created in the Republic of Serbia, which has all the bases for accelerated growth,” Sinisa Mali pointed out.
The cooperation between the Belgrade and Athens Stock Exchanges is based on two principles – the common belief that the respective markets should play a key role in ensuring sustainable economic growth of local economies and the common vision that only joint forces can effectively solve problems and better serve the needs of incoming issuers from the EU and from the international environment.
In that context, the Athens Stock Exchange carried out all necessary actions and obtained the consent of the Securities Commission of Serbia to acquire 10.24 percent of the total number of shares of the Belgrade Stock Exchange, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
Improving the trading platform
At the same time, the Belgrade Stock Exchange, as the market organizer, made the decision to improve its trading platform and transfer trading activities to the Athens Stock Exchange platform, thus improving the liquidity and range of services of the common trading platform.
All market participants will have the opportunity to benefit from the expansion and deepening of both capital markets and cross-trading.
In the next phase, the Belgrade and Athens Stock Exchanges will closely cooperate with the Ministry of Finance in the direction of further strategic development of the Serbian capital market, and through the introduction of new products and services that will provide capital flow support from investors, domestic and international, to issuers listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange.
The Belgrade Stock Exchange is the only organizer of the securities market in Serbia. It provides an efficient and transparent listing mechanism for companies, and offers brokerage houses and investors a platform for trading securities.
In addition, Belex offers services that include market data dissemination, index development and creation, and educational training.
The Athens Stock Exchange continuously participates in the financial and business development of the capital market.
The Athex Group is also part of the SSE initiative and is working on capacity building when it comes to sustainability issues and the promotion of long-term sustainable investment in the capital market, the statement concluded, RTS reports.
