News

Second Three Seas Stock Exchanges Conference

PRESS RELEASE

• The Second Three Seas Stock Exchanges Conference is taking place in Warsaw on 7-8 October 2021
• The event brings together Polish authorities, European institutions, Three Seas Stock Exchanges CEOs, and CEEplus companies
• The event is hosted by the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) which is celebrating its 30th anniversary
• President of Poland Andrzej Duda is the honorary patron of the anniversary 

This year’s second Three Seas Stock Exchanges Conference is one of the highlights of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW). President of Poland Andrzej Duda is the honorary patron of the anniversary.

The second Three Seas Stock Exchanges Conference spans two days. The event is taking place on 7 – 8 October 2021 at the Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński (Porczyński Gallery), a historic venue and the seat of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 1828-1887. The conference is a continuation of discussions on co-operation for the development of the Three Seas Region capital market. The event provides an opportunity to exchange experience with information technology and related products.

“The Three Seas Initiative conceived six years ago is gaining ground. As stock exchanges and capital markets of the region, we are a natural fit for the Initiative. We can see clear practical benefits of the co-operation. On the one hand, it enables joint promotion of the regional market: as a whole, it is much more attractive for global investors. On the other hand, our co-operation ensures that the voice of smaller exchanges can be heard in the drafting of European capital market regulations; as a result, Community law can address the interests of both the biggest and the smallest stock exchanges. Moreover, GPW is looking forward to closer collaboration in the field of technology. The Three Seas Stock Exchanges Conference is a perfect platform both to exchange opinions and to conduct practical business talks,” said Marek Dietl, President of the GPW Management Board.

The first day of the event is dedicated to GPW. Speakers at the debate on “Thirty Years of GPW’s Experience for the Development of Central and Eastern European Markets” include Alexander Saveliev, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Nikoloz Gagua, National Bank of Georgia; and Davit Nahapetyan, Central Bank of Armenia. The co-operation of the Three Seas exchanges includes exchange of experience with technology, which is the main theme of an address by Witold Wiliński, CEO, GPW Tech. 

The second day of the conference is dedicated to the co-operation of the Three Seas Stock Exchanges. GPW is the initiative’s co-founder and leader. The day will open with an address by Paweł Jabłoński, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A discussion moderated by GPW CEO Marek Dietl will bring together the CEOs of the stock exchanges in Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Sofia, Vienna, and Zagreb. Paweł Nierada, First Vice-President, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, will outline the economic dimension of the Three Seas Initiative: the Three Seas Fund, of which BGK is the initiator, co-founder and principal investor. The final panel discussion will feature CEEplus companies from Romania, Slovenia and Croatia as well as TFI PZU CEO Robert Kubin.

Representatives of the press interested in participating in the Conference may contact us at to get accreditation.

  Attached, please find the agenda of the event

A live webcast will be available at https://www.gpw.pl/thethreeseasconference and on GPW’s YouTube channel. 

The event will proceed in English with simultaneous interpretation into Polish.

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The Three Seas Initiative is an economic and political initiative of 12 EU Member States situated between the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Adriatic Sea. The initiative brings together Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The co-operation was initiated in 2015 by President of Poland Andrzej Duda and President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The Three Seas Fund established in 2019 on the initiative of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego has EUR 1bn capital.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) is the co-founder and leader of the Three Seas Stock Exchanges initiative. The initiative includes GPW as well as six other European stock exchanges in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia. GPW has for years fostered and developed co-operation of the Three Seas stock exchanges by hosting and participating in key events for the development of the region as an attractive venue for investors. The first Three Seas Stock Exchanges Conference took place in September 2020 in Kraków. President of Poland Andrzej Duda was the honorary patron of the event. The key objective of the Three Seas Stock Exchanges initiative is to develop co-operation of Central European exchanges in order to jointly promote their markets and companies and attract investors and capital. The CEEplus index published since 4 September 2019 covers the biggest and most liquid stocks listed on the markets of the Visegrad Group, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia. The index is the underlying of a passive fund managed by TFI PZU. The index portfolio includes 153 most liquid companies listed on the regulated markets of the Three Seas exchanges: Budapest (10), Bucharest (14), Ljubljana (5), Prague (7), Warsaw (114), Zagreb (3).

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History of the WSE
On 12 April 1991, the then Ministers of Ownership Transformation and Finance signed the Deed of Incorporation of the joint stock company "Giełda Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie S.A." Four days later, on the day of the WSE's inaugural session, shares of five companies were traded and the turnover amounted to PLN 1990. Since 2018, the WSE has been classified as one of the 25 developed markets by the FTSE Russell agency. The history of the capital market on Polish soil dates back to the early 19th century. The first in Poland and one of the few in Europe, the Merchant Exchange, was established in Warsaw on 2 May 1817, soon became the largest market in Tsarist Russia, responsible for 5-6% of global securities trading. A thriving stock exchange, accounting for 90% of the domestic turnover, also operated in Warsaw in the interwar period. After the period of the People's Republic of Poland and the planned economy, it was not until 1989, with the political and economic transformation, that the Polish capital market was able to develop again.

Stock exchange today
The average EoB equity daily trading volume on the WSE was PLN 804.7 million in August 2021. The Main Market listed 429 companies (382 domestic and 47 foreign) and the NewConnect market listed 366 companies (362 domestic and 4 foreign) at the end of August 2021. Last year, the WSE Group generated record sales of PLN 403.8 million and one of the highest ever net profits of over PLN 151 million. According to the Federation of European Securities Exchanges, in 2020 the WSE ranked first in Europe in terms of percentage increase in equity turnover and third in terms of the value of initial offerings. At the end of 2020, the WSE was also the second market in Europe in terms of liquidity and achieved the status of world leader in terms of the number of listed companies in the gamedev sector.

WSE position in the region
The WSE is the leader among stock exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe by the number of listed companies and the total capitalisation of domestic companies. The WSE's share in trading on stock exchanges in the region is 81%. The WSE leads the initiative of the Three Seas Stock Exchanges and aspires to the role of a regional hub for young technological companies with huge potential, the so-called unicorns. Negotiations are currently underway for the WSE to acquire a majority stake in the Armenian Exchange.

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The Warsaw Stock Exchange Group (GPW Group) operates trading platforms for shares, Treasury and corporate bonds, derivatives, electricity and gas, and provides indices and benchmarks including WIBOR and WIBID. The index agent FTSE Russell classifies the Polish capital market as a Developed Market since 2018. The markets operated by the GPW Group are the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe. For more information, visit www.gpw.p