DrKW this afternoon received approval from the Warsaw Stock Exchange to become its first remote (foreign) member.
This means DrKW will shortly offer institutional investor clients the ability to trade Polish stocks and derivatives from 1 April.
DrKW first announced its plans to build an Eastern and Emerging Europe Equities product last summer and launched trading in Russian blue chip stocks as phase one.
Today’s initiative takes advantage of the new ‘single passport rule’ in place since Poland’s accession to the EU. It will allow DrKW to meet increasing client demand for access to the Polish equities market (cash and derivatives) and is part of the Warsaw Stock Exchange ‘s drive to encourage more foreign investors and issuers to the Exchange.
Commenting on today’s Polish initiative, Matthias Rode, a Managing Director in the Equities Emerging Europe team and Head of Equity Flow Derivatives, Frankfurt, said: “We are delighted to be the first investment bank to become a remote member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Since Poland’s accession to the EU, our institutional clients in Western Europe – including mutual and hedge funds – have shown a great interest in the Polish market and so we see significant growth potential for our new product. The Polish equity market is attractive to our clients because it has depth and maturity with a number of liquid stocks, good daily turnover and a well developed derivatives market.”
DrKW’s overall Eastern and Emerging Europe Equities product is led by Carsten Stork and comprises a sales, trading and market making team based in London and Frankfurt with significant experience across the Russian and Emerging European markets. The team offers integrated cash and derivatives expertise consistent with the overall approach of DrKW’s customer facing Equities business. In particular, Roman Kirindassov, a Director in Frankfurt, is supporting Matthias Rode in the new Polish initiative.
Carsten Stork, Head of DrKW’s Eastern and Emerging Europe Equities product, comments, “This is an exciting initiative for DrKW’s Equities business and for our clients. Our new Polish offering represents an important next step in extending our product into the wider Emerging and Eastern Europe market where it makes absolute sense for us to be an active player. The aim is to be as strong in this region on the Equities side as we are in Fixed Income and Currency trading where DrKW already has an excellent and established Emerging Europe franchise.”