Baltic bourses gear up for Norex membership

TALLINN (BNS) - The chief executive of the Tallinn stock exchange said he hopes that a protocol will be signed by the end of this year setting forth the principles for cooperation between Baltic stock exchanges and the alliance of Scandinavian stock exchanges, Norex. Norex is an alliance of the Stockholm and Copenhagen stock exchanges, to be joined soon by the Oslo bourse and, probably, also Reykjavik.

Gert Tiivas, chairman of the board of the Tallinn bourse, said the parties were working on a protocol of intent which, among other things, would establish a timetable for the process of negotiations, its topics, scope, and the individuals responsible for it.

Tiivas said on Oct. 22 that actual negotiations on cooperation between the Baltic stock exchanges and Norex will probably begin next year.

Common membership is realistic some time in the first half of 2001 at the earliest, according to Tiivas. He also said it was important to see whether the Estonian market is able to cope with the costs of the process.

"The costs also depend on what cooperation model we will choose," Tiivas said. "Whether we take over the trading system used in Norex without changes, what the communication costs will be, and many other factors," he said.

The council of Norex invited the three Baltic stock exchanges to official negotiations in September. The Tallinn stock exchange has issued powers to its board for holding the talks on behalf of the bourse.