Bringing back the bourse's magic

At a conference organized to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the WSE and Polish capital markets, experts discussed the bourse's ills, and concluded that the best solution would be to improve its liquidity.

Jarosław Kozłowski, chairman of the Polish Securities and Exchange Commission, believes that the WSE is losing its leading position in the region.

"The strongest position of the WSE was in 2001-2002, now it is ranked third in terms of capitalization or even fourth in terms of turnover," he said. He added that the only way to bring back the exchange's former glory is to increase the liquidity the market could provide investors. The situation could improve, he said, if the privatization of state-owned companies could be accelerated.

Marek Zuber, head of the team of economic advisors to the Prime Minister, says that the coalition is willing neither to speed up the privatization of state-owned firms, nor the stock exchange itself, though he said both were important from the economic perspective.

"The next three years are crucial to the future of the WSE. Now we are in the best moment to let new companies on the trading floor as well as to privatize the stock exchange due to the economic growth," he said.

According to Kozłowski the direction in which the WSE will go is the most important matter for Ludwik Sobolewski, the new president of the bourse, and the Treasury Ministry. Zuber assured those in attendance that the question is being discussed by Minister Jasiński and his co-workers. "Within the next two months we should have the new scenario regarding the ownership of the bourse," he said.