As expected in an earlier news piece, following the purchase by Vienna stock exchange of the Unicredit strake in Budeapest SE, chairman and board member of the Budapest Stock Exchange Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy tendered his resignation as of 16 June 2008.
He was elected in June 2004 as chairman of the BSE and was re-elected in this position in March 2008.
According to Mr. Szalay-Berzeviczy he has taken this step due to the recently changed ownership structure of BSE that may result it new circumstances within the organisation. (As announced on 10 June 2008, in addition to its 12,5% stake Wiener Borse acquired further 25,2% stake in the BSE from UniCredit Hungary Zrt.) These changes will require a chairman who can meet the expectations required by the new ownership structure.
During his four-year-long period as Chairman of the BSE Szalay-Berzeviczy contributed to several key achievements aiming to strengthen the Hungarian capital market. Among others these include the
new ownership program launched by the Hungarian government with the goal to privatise some of the still state-owned companies via introduction to the stock exchange, the successful integration of the Budapest Stock
Exchange and the Budapest Commodity Exchange, the introduction of pension savings account as the fourth pillar of the Hungarian pension system, certain tax benefits and state subsidy to promote listing of securities on the BSE. Additionally, thanks to the initiatives of BSE during the recent years the Hungarian pension funds have increased their equity portfolio significantly, the supervision fees have been decreased, the financial studies have been introduced to the national curriculum.
Currently the government is reviewing the long-term-investment account concept along with question of capital gain tax presented by the BSE
After his resignation Mr.Szalay-Berzeviczy will continue playing an active role in the Hungarian capital market remaining the Managing Director of the market leading Custody & Settlement Division of UniCredit Hungary Zrt.