The Warsaw Stock Exchange - GPW

Warsaw Stock ExchangeThe Polish Capital MarketThe main institutions of the Polish capitalmarket are: the Warsaw Stock Exchange(WSE), which organises the trading in financialinstruments, the National Depository forSecurities (NDS), which handles the clearingand settlement of transactions, processescorporate actions and provides safekeepingof financial instruments, and, thirdly, brokeragehouses, which serve as intermediaries intransactions. Supervision over the market iseffected by the Polish Financial SupervisionAuthority (PFSA).The National Depository for Securities (NDS)was established in 1991 as an integral part ofthe Warsaw Stock Exchange. On 7 November1994 the Depository became an independentinstitution operating as a joint stockcompany. As a central institution, the NDS isresponsible for the management and supervisionof the depository and clearing systemin relation to operations in financial instrumentsin Poland, based on the best globalpractices, including the principle of full dematerialisationof securities. The NDS also providesa number of services for issuers, i.e. intermediaryservices in dividend payments toshareholders, share assimilation, exchange,conversion and splits as well as execution ofpre-emptive rights.Another important role of the National Depositoryfor Securities is to establish operationallinks in order to clear transactionsrelating to foreign companies listed on theWSE under a dual listing arrangement. TheNDS maintains 19 operational links with foreigndepository institutions. Through thoselinks, foreign companies from the followingcountries can be listed on the WSE: Austria,Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia,France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania,Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, UnitedKingdom and the USA.In July 2011, the National Depository for Securitiesdelegated some responsibilities toKDPW_CCP. Those responsibilities were relatedto settlement of transactions concludedon the regulated market and in the AlternativeTrading System as well as settlement liquidityguarantees. The NDS retained responsibilitiesrelated to clearing of transactions and acentral depository of securities. By introducingthis change the NDS complied with internationalstandards and significantly improvedcompetitiveness of the Polish capital market.KDPW_CCP runs transaction settlements usingmechanisms that allow the systemic reductionof the risk of parties’ default undertransactions.The clearing house engages into guaranteeingand settling transactions on the cash marketand derivatives market on the regulatedmarket and under the Alternative TradingSystem (ATS) as well as transactions madeoutside the organised trading system (OTCtransactions). Transactions accepted for settlementat KDPW_CCP undergo novation,which means that KDPW_CCP becomes thebuyer for each seller, and a seller for eachbuyer under a transaction (central counterparty).The regulated OTC market, mostly handlingwholesale transactions, is organisedby BondSpot, which engages in wholesaletrading in treasury bonds and bills withinTreasury BondSpot Poland, and in trading inmunicipal, corporate and mortgage bondswithin the regulated OTC market and ATS,both of which are part of Catalyst.The capital market is supervised by the PolishFinancial Supervision Authority (PFSA). Thissupervision covers, among others, the WarsawStock Exchange, the National Depositoryfor Securities, investment companies, insurancecompanies, investment funds, brokers,investment advisors and issuers of WSE-7