Download - FEAS

FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES SEMI ANNUAL REPORT OCTOBER 2005
FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES
Osman Birsen
President of FEAS & Chairman and
CEO of the Istanbul Stock Exchange
This year, FEAS is celebrating its 10th
anniversary and producing two semi annual
reports in May and October. The aim of
transitioning from an annual to semi annual
publication is two-fold. First, through
providing two publications rather than just
one, the market performances of FEAS
members will be reflected in a more up to
date fashion. Second, the environments
(both political and economic), within which
those markets operate, are brought to the
attention of the readers more timely and
concisely.
The FEAS region entered 2005 with a strong
desire for continued growth in world
economies. Boosted by upcoming EU
accession for some European members and
increasing oil prices for some Asian
members, our markets continue to
strengthen every year. The outstanding
performance in the first half of 2005 is
evidenced in the consolidated regional
statistics on the adjoining pages, as well as
the individual statistics of each of our
members, in the member profile section.
The Federation, as a globally recognized
regional institution, is growing and maturing
together with its members towards its goals.
Founded 10 years ago by 12 regional
exchanges, FEAS now has a total number of
31 stock exchange members from 27
different countries and 7 affiliate members.
FEAS is growing in membership with
additional Securities Exchanges and
Affiliates. FEAS now welcomes the new
memberships of the Bahrain Stock
Exchange, Iraq Stock Exchange and
Montenegro Stock Exchange at our 11th
General Assembly meeting held in Shiraz,
Iran on September 17, 2005. It is with great
pleasure that we welcome our newest
members and we look forward to their
contributions to our organization.
As we are half way through our eleventh year
of operation, most of you are well aware of
our accomplishments to date; those that
were particularly noteworthy are the
implementation of the FEAS Data Center
As our markets continue to step up to the
challenges of the global arena, the greater
importance will be to turn our focus toward
our vision for the future and to participate
in the regional development over the next
5-10 years.
(FDC) to standardize and promote cross
market statistics, initiation of FEAS Index
work for better visibility and for the
movement toward cross border trading and
the further harmonization of rules and
regulations in the FEAS Rule Book through
adoption of the FEAS Market Principles
parallel to WFE guidelines. There were
special activities that promoted the growth of
stock exchange operations such as bilateral
visits, training programs, the joint ISE/FEAS
development project and international
associations with organizations such as the
World Bank.
FEAS has jointly hosted two conferences this
year; one of which was the IT Conference
that took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted by
the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, and the other
a Corporate Governance Seminar hosted by
the Bucharest Stock Exchange in Bucharest,
Romania.
FEAS is striving to place greater importance
on regional development over the next 5-10
years. Our continued commitment to our 5year
strategic plan is designed to achieve
the objectives specified within the mission of
the Federation and to attain a greater role in
the competitive global market environment.
Our focus over the next 5 years will
concentrate in the area of promoting
corporate governance, facilitating timely
disclosure, achieving effective dissemination
of information, attaining regional
convergence in listing requirements,
settlement, trading rules and software,
creating greater awareness and visibility for
the region’s stocks and investment
opportunities, promoting the listing of
‘investment grade’ companies in the region’s
markets and creating linkages among the
region’s intermediaries, data providers,
settlement and custody institutions and stock
exchanges while encouraging cooperation
among securities commissions.
Looking at the individual future outlook of our
markets, as contained in the member profile
pages, one can see that there continues to
be work toward the challenges of member
markets in providing competitive and viable
financing options to both the government
and private sectors, while enhancing
operations through technology and
expanding services to market participants.
The main effort continues to focus on the
areas of increased transparency through
expense in infrastructure and developing
regulations to promote stronger corporate
governance.
I would like to take a moment to extend my
heartfelt thanks for their contributions to:
Atos Euronext Market Solutions,
Computershare, DenizBank FSG, Dow Jones
Indexes, Is Investment, Garanti Securities,
GL Trade and STOXX Ltd, Takasbank, Tata
Consulting Services, TurkDEX, the World
Federation of Exchanges, and Tayburn
Kurumsal (also the publisher of this report).
We hope that you will take a moment to visit
our contributor section in the FEAS website
at www.feas.org and read their articles in the
following pages.
In closing, I want to commend the efforts of
all our members in achieving our regional
objectives through their commitment and the
Secretariat for its success in maintaining our
cohesive organization. As we close in on our
10th year anniversary, I am happy to say that
our formula for achievement will be applied
toward our development for the future.
PAGE 3