Baltic stock exchanges delay plans to trade, settle in euros
30.08.2010, 12:18The stock exchanges in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, part of NASDAQ OMX Group, will start using the euro to trade and settle transactions later than originally forecast, reported Bloomberg.
Lithuania’s equity market “is likely” to convert to euros by November, while Estonia will switch over in January when the country officially adopts the euro, Henrik Elfving, NASDAQ OMX’s Vice President for Baltic and Armenian Markets, said.
“Then we will have some 95 percent of all trading and settlement in euros and the main goal has been reached and we will continue discussions in Latvia to hopefully get them to follow,” Elfving said. “Some of the other goals of the more unified market, like one common regulatory environment, can hopefully be reached in co-operation with the Baltic financial supervision authorities by harmonizing the regulations.”
In November 2009 NASDAQ OMX said they would create a joint market in the Baltic states using the euro in the first half of this year. Elfving did not specify the reasons for the change of plan. The move is intended to boost the appeal of Baltic markets, which have a value of about $7.2 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The three nations, which joined the European Union in 2004, had to postpone dropping their own currencies after an economic boom in the region boosted inflation above entry targets, followed by the deepest recession among the 27-member EU that widened Latvia’s and Lithuania’s budget gaps above entry terms.
Estonia will become the third east European country to adopt the euro in January, while Latvia and Lithuania plan to join in 2014.