THE 3RD EDITION OF THE "FINANCING THROUGH THE STOCK MARKET" CONFERENCE  The Sibex - Athex partnership, implemented starting in November

The partnership between the derivatives exchange in Sibiu - Sibex - and the Athens Exchange (ATHEX Exchange Group - Athex) will be implemented in November, according to Mr. Dimitris Karaiskakis, director of operations of Athens Exchange SA.

In November, the switch will be made to the new clearing and trading service - XNET - which will become available through this partnership. In the first days of November the general testing sessions of the system will take place, and on November 10th, the system will be officially launched.

In early February, the Sibiu Exchange and the group that controls the Athens Exchange (Athex) have signed a cooperation protocol, which will allow the Sibiu exchange to access the counterparty services of the Greeks. Following the partnership, the market of Sibiu will be opened for new products. Local brokers will be able to promote the Xnet service - which provides access to over 17 markets, 2400 shares and 700 ETFs. Moreover, there will be a common platform: which will allow accessing the Romanian market together with products in Greece and Cyprus.

"What is important is to start the new service this year", said Mr. Ovidiu Petru, executive director of Sibex, who added: "After that, one or two months will be necessary for becoming familiar with the system. The market will grow through this partnership".

Mr. Petru also told us that through the new system, participants in Athex will be able to access the products of Sibex, which are not available on the Athens market. "Even though this is not the main goal of the partnership, Athex participants are very interested in our products", the Sibex official said.

In order to implement the new system, the Sibiu Exchange and Athex have organized a training session for Romanian brokers in Athens, in July. Until the date of the effective migration of the positions to the trading and clearing-settlement system, all of the active brokers on Sibex will have to be recertified, or new brokers will have to become certified.