May 22 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) could launch its planned international segment by the end of the year, the CEO of the bourse, Ivan Takev, said on Tuesday.
The project was suspended twice for a total period of six months at the request of the market-maker which is taking part in the process, Takev said during a news conference in Sofia.
"As of the beginning of the second quarter, we entered into a dialogue with them [the market-maker] and resumed our efforts to continue with the project. Settlement of the deals should take place in Luxembourg, because the transactions between banks and investors will be processed by Luxembourg's depository. I am convinced that we will find a solution and the project will be launched," Takev added.
The new segment could include up to 150 financial instruments from key markets in Europe, the US and Asia.
In May 2017, Takev told SeeNews the bourse plans to set up a new segment, BSE International, where stocks from Western European countries and other major markets, including Canada, China and Japan, could be traded.
In January 2018, Bulgaria's financial regulator said it has granted permission to BSE to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF), paving the way for the establishment of a new segment for trade in stocks from Western European and other major markets. MTFs are self-regulated financial trading venues which serve as an alternative to traditional regulated markets on stock exchanges.
Takev said last year that the BSE would need to set up an MTF because most foreign companies do not have prospectuses under the Prospectus Directive of 2003 as they had been admitted to trading before the introduction of the directive. Without such a prospectus, the companies cannot be listed on the regulated market of the BSE, he explained.