Baltic stock exchanges to start joint trade in euros next year
18.11.2009, 14:39
The stock exchanges in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, part of Nasdaq OMX Group, will create a single venue for trading Baltic securities.
Nasdaq OMX said trading will begin in the first half of next year, with the euro as the trading and settlement currency.
The move, which is intended to make the Baltic market more attractive for investors, requires approval from financial supervisors in all three countries, said Tex Vertmann, head of communications and marketing at the Tallinn stock exchange, in an e-mailed statement today.
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“The new market will be created on the same technical trading platform as the regulated markets, meaning there will be no additional access costs for members and investors,” Vertmann said. “There will still be technical options to trade in local currencies after the new market is created but we expect the bulk of trading and liquidity to move to the new market.”
The three nations, which aimed to be the first of the former Soviet countries to adopt the euro after joining the European Union in 2004, had to postpone dropping their own currencies after an economic boom in the region boosted inflation above entry targets. Estonia may adopt the euro from January 2011, the International Monetary Fund and Nordea AB said yesterday. Soaring budget deficits will delay entry for Latvia and Lithuania to 2013 at the earliest, Nordea said.
Trading already takes place in euros on the Tallinn stock exchange in Estonia, while stocks in Riga trade in lats and the Vilnius bourse trades in litas.