Exchange Center, home of the WSE since 2000
Exchange Center entrance on Książęca Street
Exchange Building, home of the exchange from 1876 until World War II. It was completely destroyed in the war.
Bank of Poland and Exchange Building, home of the exchange from 1828 to 1876
The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), Polish: Giełda Papierów
Wartościowych w Warszawie, is a stock exchange located in Warsaw, Poland. It is the largest stock exchange in the region, with a
capitalization of $330 billion.[citation needed]
The WSE is a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the
Federation of European Securities Exchanges.
Structure and operations
The WSE is a joint stock company founded by the State Treasury. It is divided into about
60,000 registered shares of 700 złotys each. The Treasury holds the largest stake (almost
99%), with the rest divided among several dozen entities, including banks and brokerage houses.
The legal framework for exchange operations is provided by three acts from July 29, 2005:
- Act on Public Offering, Conditions Governing the Introduction of Financial Instruments to Organised Trading, and Public
Companies
- Act on Trading in Financial Instruments
- Act on Capital Market Supervision
Additionally, the WSE is governed by the Code of Commercial Companies of 2000, the Statutes of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the
Rules of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and the Rules of the Stock Exchange Court.
The following instruments are traded on the WSE: shares, bonds, subscription
rights, allotments, and derivatives such as futures, options, and index participation units.
Since its inception, the WSE has engaged in electronic trading. The WARSET trading platform has been in use since November
2000. An additional market called NewConnect was introduced on August 30, 2007.
Trading takes place Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 4:35 PM.
History
The first exchange in Warsaw, the Warsaw Mercantile Exchange, was established on May 12, 1817. The first day of trading was on
May 16. Initially, trading sessions were held between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. In the 19th century mainly bills and bonds were traded.
Share trading on a broader scale developed in the second half of that century. Between 1918 and 1939, the WSE was by far the
largest of several bourses in different Polish cities (Katowice, Kraków, Lwów, Łódź, Poznań and Wilno), and accounted for 90% of the volume traded on the Polish
market. When the Second World War broke out, the stock exchange was closed.
It was only after the fall of the communist regime in 1989, that the
Warsaw Stock Exchange could be reestablished. Much needed experience and financial aid was provided by France (especially the
Société des Bourses Françaises). The WSE began activity in its present form on April 16, 1991. On the first trading day only five stocks were listed (Tonsil,
Próchnik, Krosno, Kable, and Exbud). Seven brokerages took part in the trading, and there were 112 buy and sell orders, with a
turnover of only 1,990 złotys ($2,000).
In the years 1991-2000, the stock exchange was located in the building which during the previous, and then recent, communist
years had been the seat of the Central Committee of the ruling Polish Communist Party. This can be considered an interesting reflection on the rapid
transition of Poland from a communist to a market economy.
Since then the WSE has been developing and growing rapidly and is now perceived as well established on the European
market[citation needed].
Statistics
- Number of companies listed: 321 (August 2007)
- Market value of listed shares (August 2007): 301.86 bln USD, Polish companies:
200 bln USD
- Volume of stocks traded in 2006: 115 bln USD
Stock market indices
There are fourteen indices on the WSE.
- WIG
- WIG20
- mWIG40
- sWIG80
- TECHWIG
- WIG-BANKI
- WIG-BUDOW
- WIG-DEWEL
- WIG-INFO
- WIG-MEDIA
- WIG-PALIWA
- WIG-PL
- WIG-SPOZYW
- WIG-TELKOM
See also
External links
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