Top EU candidate country bourse reps meet to discuss exchange integration

Representatives from the bourses of the three countries most advanced in the European Union (EU) negotiation process, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia met in Switzerland yesterday. "We are developing domestic markets, in order to join the European stock exchange network," said Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) president Wieslaw Rozlucki. He did not say, which network it will choose, but emphasized that small bourses must be stronger in order to have a stronger potential position. "Analysts and advisers say that the WSE has no possibility of surviving. It is developing too slowly and has too small a turnover," said Erste Securities analyst Sergiusz Goralczyk. Rozlucki doubts in the new stock market Newex, which will be created by Vienna and Frankfurt bourses, the possibility will exist to allow companies from Eastern Europe to have access to Western capital. He said that this proposal will decrease the WSE liquidity and will have only negative effects. Some analysts say that bourses in small countries are unnecessary due to the internet and the consolidation processes. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 14)