15 - 21 June 2000

Stock Exchange elected to European body

Alfred Mallia and Mark Guillaumier, chairman and general manger of the Malta Stock Exchange were in Lucerne, Switzerland last week to attend the General Assembly of the Federation of European Stock Exchange (FESE).

During the assembly, the Malta Stock Exchange was elected as an official correspondent exchange of this organisation together with the exchanges of the other EU applicant countries, namely Bratislava, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Cyprus.

The Federation of European Stock Exchanges has its headquarters in Brussels and is an association of stock exchanges from countries in the European economic area and Switzerland. Its primary role is essentially to promote the common interest of European stock exchanges as regulated securities markets. It seeks to promote the development of securities markets in Europe by cooperating in the areas of trading, clearing and settlement as well as in regulatory matters and in so doing, furthers the gradual process of integration of the European capital markets.

The election of the Malta Stock Exchange as a correspondent exchange of FESE came at the end of a lengthy process of assessment by federation officials as to the level of compliance of the exchange's regulations vis-à-vis those obtained under EU directives. It is envisaged that the next Spring Forum of the federation will be held in Malta in May 2001.