The launch of the Common Trading Platform between the CSE and the Athens Stock Exchange will be delayed until late September, beginning October 2006, in view of major problems still existing regarding risk management and the level of fees that Athens will impose on Cypriot financial services firms.
The much-publicised launch was initially set to begin January 2, 2006. It was then delayed till April, then July and now is slated to go live in the last quarter of 2006, as predicted a year ago by the Financial Mirror.
During a meeting held last week in Cyprus when ASE Chairman Kapralos and Managing Director Lazarides were present, it emerged that the ASE has yet to define its official fees and charges that it intends to apply to Cypriot brokers hooking up with its system remotely from Cyprus.
The “lets first start and then we shall see” motto pressed by the Greeks was flatly rejected by Cypriot financial services companies who are demanding clear-cut and well defined fee scales.
There is also an issue of risk management since Athens has not officials and in writing informed Cypriot brokers about procedures and other regulations that they will need to abide when trading on the ASE.
ECB yet to respond
More complication delaying the launch has emerged following information secured by the Financial Mirror that the European Central Bank (ECB) has not yet responded on whether or not it will approve the CSE regulations and procedures regarding the issue of clearing of transactions in euros.
The CSE is also still in intense negotiations with Alpha Bank, the payment bank of the ASE regarding settlement of trades, with some CSE insiders complaining that Alpha Bank has a high fee scale than what the Cyprus market is used to.
Last but not least is the fact that a number of top Cyprus brokers, such as a major bank owned firm are not yet ready to join the launch since they don’t have the necessary software.
The bank owned brokerage is reported to be still writing its software under development inhouse. CSE officials have repeatedly said they will not wait for all firms to come on board.
