GSS NEWSLETTER ISSUE 112 August 2010 2
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GSS NEWSLETTER ISSUE 112 August 2010 2 CoNTENT DEAR CLIENTS 4 INTERvIEWS 5 Boris Cherkasskiy, Vice President for Development & Technology, Depository Clearing Company (DCC) 5 Interview with Alexander Artyukhin, Director of Development and Client Relations, NDC 7 AUSTRIA 10 Bank Austria: Industry will continue to stabilize over the summer 10 Index-Launch CECE and CEETX Fundamental 10 BELARUS 11 UniCredit Bank Moscow starts operations in the New Market – Republic of Belarus 11 BoSNIA AND HERzEGovINA 13 The supervisory authorities of the financial sector in joint control of events in the market 13 Regular revisions by SASE and BLSE conducted in July 13 BULGARIA 15 A Step Forward to Enhancing the Activity of the Financial Regulator 15 Euromoney Recognizes UniCredit Bulbank as Best Bank in Bulgaria 16 CRoatia 17 Croatia opens final three, closes two chapters 17 Atlantic Grupa buys Droga Kolinska 17 Dalekovod wins deal in Norway worth EUR 20 mn 18 Institut IGH participates in projects in Israel worth EUR 6 bn 18 CzECH REpUBLIC 19 Central Securities Depository Prague opens for business 19 FinMin expects 2.5% economic growth in 2011 20 New Czech government 20 HUNGARy 21 Hungarian Power Exchange Started Operation on 20 July 2010 21 Hungarian Parliament Approved Package of Economic Bills 22 KAzakhstan 23 Trades volume on KASE increased by 19.4% and made up KZT 13.5 trn (USD 91.5 bn) 23 GS trades volume on KASE increased by 47.1% and made up KZT7 56.3 bn (USD 5,136.9 mn) 23 Repo transactions market volume gained 7.8% and made up KZT6.4 trn (USD 43.4 bn) 23 KyRGyzstan 24 Issue 112, August 2010 3 poLAND 25 NDS implemented SWIFT Message Support System 25 WSE one of the leaders of European IPO market in Q2 2010 25 RomANIA 27 Economy 27 Banking 27 Some foreign banks will increase exposure in Romania in the upcoming months 28 Stock Exchanges 28 New closed-end fund – iFund which brings Fund Proprietatea shares to the Stock Exchange soon 28 Romanian state puts up for sale EUR 450 mn-stakes on Stock Exchange 28 RUSSIA 30 Legislation toughening of brokerage business 30 FFMS to allow unprofitable companies to be traded according to the highest standards 30 Government to choose between a radical ban for cross share ownership of parent and subsidiary companies and a soft option – mandatory disclosure of such ownership 30 Bonds of the CIS countries may soon begin placement on the Russian stock exchanges 31 Central Bank completed interest rates reduction cycle 31 Russia to place Eurobonds in rubles in 2010, 2011 31 FFMS amends the issue standards of RDR 31 Stock exchange increase insurance fund volume 32 FFMS announced the tender for suspicious transactions detection model 32 The issuers’ disclosure rules to be amended 32 FFMS drafted the Law on responsibility of the company management 32 SERBIA 33 Serbian Central Bank performs another successful stress-test 33 Changes to the Law on National Bank of Serbia adopted 33 T-Notes scheduled auctions changes 34 SLovAK REpUBLIC 35 Bratislava Stock Exchange Trading in June 35 UniCredit Bank the most active player on BSSE in 1st Half 2010 36 Revision of SAX Index Base 36 SAX Index base before and after revision 36 SLovENIA 37 Unemployment Rate Flat at 10.6% in April over March 37 Government Adopts Euro Stability Bill 37 UKRAINE 39 SSSMC of Ukraine imposed mandatory information disclosure on publicly listed and traded companies 39 yoUR Contacts 40 DISCLAImER 43 ImpRINT 44 Issue 112, August 2010 4 DEAR CLIENTS Alexander Nazarov (Head of GSS Russia) It is my great pleasure to present ZAO UniCredit Bank and We have liaised with the Association of Global Custodians the Russian market in July edition of our GSS Newsletter. (AGC) to provide our regulators with the summary of the expectations of the global custody community and foreign Summer is the time of the year when we tend to think investors. Our general approach is to make the CSD the about holidays rather than financial markets. Not in Moscow, single final place of settlement for the professional market however, as this year the temperature is high not only in the participants and their clients. streets of the city, but also in its cabinets – the President of Russia announced a detailed action plan for building an ZAO UniCredit Bank is the largest bank with 100% foreign International Financial Center in the capital city of Russia. capital and one of the leading banks in Russia. We work hard Significant improvements in the legal and tax environment, to further strengthen our position in the securities market and technological infrastructure and market procedures have are proud to be able to share with you some recent achieve- been projected; drafts of the principal laws should be ments. Despite the continuing post-crisis market volatility, ready by 1 September 2010. Implementing only part of the GSS Russia managed to increase its year-to-date opera- measures over the coming five-six years will considerably tional volumes by more than 20%. Our team was joined by change the market, making it much more accessible to great markets experts with experience from Citi, Renaissance foreign investors. We believe that this is the major goal of Capital and MICEX. Our dedicated Product and Business the project. Development Unit focuses on increasing and diversifying our product range designed for different types of foreign and local The first huge step will be the creation of a central securities clients; several new products and services were offered to depository in Russia, a market development long awaited by our clients in the past months. In addition to new products international and domestic investors. The two currently exist- and services we also expand our market boundaries; last ing settlement depositories, NDC and DCC, have great ambi- month we launched custody operations in the Republic of tions to become the CSD in Russia. I would like to draw your Belarus establishing a direct link to the local CSD. Kindly note attention to the two interviews given by the top managers Belarus being added as our 16th market to this Newsletter. of the National Depository Center (NDC) and the Depository Clearing Company (DCC), in which they shared their views To conclude, I would like to thank all our clients and part- on the future of the market infrastructure in Russia and their ners for their confidence in the Russian market and ZAO expectations relating to the President’s project. You will find UniCredit Bank as a solid provider and reliable guide through both interviews in this Newsletter. the market. We will continue to use our position, market expertise and creativity to justify your confidence. ZAO UniCredit is an active participant of the project. Along with other international custodians operating in the Rus- Best regards, sian market we have initiated discussions and submitted proposals to the Central Bank and Federal Service for Financial Markets; the main goal of the proposals was to adapt the current CSD model to the requirements of Alexander Nazarov foreign investors. Head of GSS Russia Issue 112, August 2010 5 Interviews:On the way to a single Central Securities Depository in Russia INTERvIEWS: oN THE way To A SINGLE CENTRAL SECURITIES DEpoSIToRy IN RUSSIA Unification of the Russian depositories was one of the main topics discussed during the Russian Securities Forum, a major industry event held last month in Moscow, which UniCredit was proud to sponsor. As it was mentioned in one of the panel discussions, already 14 years ago the project first appeared on the agenda of the regulators. We have asked representatives of both, the DCC and the NDC, for their views. Boris Cherkasskiy, Vice President for Development & Moreover, I believe the foreign nominee problem must be Technology, Depository Clearing Company (DCC) solved. If we pretend to be a financial centre, how can we live without a foreign nominee concept? Some are afraid of the nominee concept for non-residents. I think it is narrow- minded to think that once foreign nominees are allowed, the market would move away from Russia. In fact, we already have nominees, just under a different name: owners. At the moment we experience only disadvantages by hiding heads in the sand and treating real foreign nominees as owners. How can a clearer structure of the depository system be achieved? Of course we must have something like a central depository. It may be one depository, but it may as well be a legalized CHS (Central Handling System). Moreover, we should aim at a simplification of the structure: ideally this would be a two level structure. On one level we would have CSD or CHS, whereas Boris Cherkasskiy the second level would be represented by custodians. Vice President for Development & Technology, DCC This does not mean that correspondent accounts between the custodians of the second level should be forbidden, but each of them must have a direct account in the central Boris, you are one of the pioneers of the Russian secu- depository system or in one of the two depositaries forming rities markets. How would you rate the current regula- the central clearing and settlement system. I don’t think this tory framework, considering that it is already more has to be implemented immediately, but the development than 10 years old? goes into this direction. I am convinced that we need amendments to the current framework. But usually people are afraid of changes and tend to think: “The system may not be excellent but it works. At the conference a single CSD has been discussed. Who knows what will we get instead?” In any case, any future What is your view? amendments have to be smart and in coordination with the In practice we have a bipolar system right now, but we need market participants.