Athens Stock Exchange: New strategy with emphasis on development sectors

Supporting the development of the Greek economy, through the promotion of “crown jewel” companies, the emphasis on development sectors such as green energy, tourism, agricultural production, and real estate, the increase of negotiable securities and derivatives through new products and partnerships with smaller stock exchanges are among the new goals and strategy of the ATHEX, according to Socrates Lazaridis, CEO of the Athens Stock Exchange.

At the same time, emphasis is placed on Enabling activities, such as the strengthening of the pre-IPO space (Roots program, ATHEX Academy, ESED, EBRD, Roadshows, etc.) in order to strengthen the ecosystem of the domestic market.

Attracting new listings

Today, there is pressure on the main activities of stock exchanges worldwide, as new listings are limited, while in the Greek market there is even the phenomenon of companies leaving (with a small footprint in trading activity, as most companies are quite small, while large companies are pursuing dual listing). In this context, an effort will be made to increase new listings through frequent contacts with companies from major development sectors, while the role of the capital market in privatization will be highlighted.

At the same time, it is observed that the larger stock exchanges provide technological solutions to the smaller stock exchanges, while the ATHEX will continue to provide its technological infrastructure and systems to smaller stock exchanges (CSE, EnEx etc.) in order to share development costs and to lower the break-even point, move to cloud and automation infrastructure, and possibly participate in related bidding procedures if the stock exchanges of Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia request to upgrade their infrastructure.

Large stock exchanges also form buy-side services, increasing their product base (eg services to mutual funds), while in the same context, HELEX plans to offer products and services, such as e.g. post-transaction services to fund managers, but also services to investment funds.