FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES
ANNUAL REPORT JUNE 2012
NASDAQ OMX ARMENIA
Konstantin Saroyan
Chief Executive Officer
One of the major achievements of 2011
was operation of securities initial placement
auction module and first ever offering of
corporate bonds at the Exchange. This was
an important milestone towards bringing more
securities offerings and new attractive financial
instruments to the Exchange – an objective, we
continuously and consistently strive to achieve.
Though overall corporate securities trading
remained quite low in 2011, stock market
saw a 57% increase of value traded, which
successfully continued previous year’s positive
growth trend. At the year-end exchange market
capitalization stood at around US$ 140 mln.
Government bonds trading showed a slight
decrease of 4% in value traded, amounting to
US$ 13.9 mln, and the repurchase agreements
(repo) market slowed down to US$ 5.3 mln.
Currency trading slightly increased and stood
at nearly US$ 0.76 bln in 2011. As in previous
year, credit resources market, launched in April
of 2011, was the best performing this year
with value traded of US$ 4.7 bln, a 4.5 times
increase over the previous year.
NASDAQ OMX Armenia was also active in
organizing various events, focusing on major
stakeholders – investment companies and
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
NASDAQ OMX Armenia (formerly Armenian
Stock Exchange, Armex, renamed on 27
January 2009) is the only stock exchange
currently operating in Armenia. Armex was
the successor of the Association of Securities
Market Participants, which was established in
Armenia in 1997, and was initially registered
the Securities Commission of the RA on 13
February 2001, as a self-regulatory organization.
In November 2007, according to the newly
adopted “Law on Securities Market”, Armex was
reorganized into an open joint stock company.
Until 1 January 2006, Securities Commission
of RA was the competent state authority to
regulate the activities of capital market including
the stock exchange in Armenia. However, with
the enactment of a new law introducing unified
regulatory authority for the financial market,
the regulatory and supervisory powers of the
Commission were transferred to the CBA.
Since 15 November 2005, foreign currency
trading was introduced on Armex, which proved
to be in demand: volumes of FX trading to date
greatly exceed those of other instruments. On
PAGE 96
One of the major achievements of
2011 was operation of securities initial
placement auction module and first
ever offering of corporate bonds at the
Exchange.
banks, listed companies, journalists – and
aimed at sharing international expertise and
implementing state-of-the-art standards of
respective activities in Armenia.
In October, 2011 NASDAQ OMX Armenia
and Central Depository of Armenia hosted
an important international joint conference
of 2 regional associations – International
Association of Stock Exchanges of CIS
countries (IAEx of CIS) and Association of
European Central Securities Depositories
(AECSD). Overall 116 representatives of 77
companies from 14 countries of CIS, Europe
and Asia gathered in Yerevan to discuss issues
of regional cooperation and interoperability of
the Exchange and Depository business.
Being the full owner of the Central Depository
of Armenia, NASDAQ OMX Armenia kept
concentrating on improving the depository
and clearing services – primarily through
continued automation and optimization of
business processes, as well as introduction
of new services. IN 2011 the Depository
started servicing foreign nominees and
signed a cooperation agreement with Russian
counterpart. The expected launch of new
second pillar pension system will boost the
activity in the capital market, so the Depository
worked closely with the Government of Armenia
and the Central Bank of Armenia to create
necessary preconditions for introducing the
reform and servicing pension accounts and
custodian information system.
NASDAQ OMX Armenia also participated and
spoke in one of the world’s leading economic
forums, held in Russia, Saint-Petersburg
International Economic Forum, presenting
Armenian capital market vast experience of
preparing markets to integration.
General public and especially younger
audiences were also in focus, with initiatives
promoting awareness about capital markets
and their importance in building a strong
national economy. NASDAQ OMX Armenia will continue to be
proactive in bringing innovative technological
solutions to the Exchange and the Depository
and enhancing its relations with the capital
market stakeholders, thus realizing its primary
objective – to maintain a fair and effective
marketplace where good companies can
raise capital and where investors can make
well-informed decisions while being properly
protected.
14 December 2005, the first publicly traded
corporate bonds were listed at Armex, and as
of December 2008, 13 bond issues were traded
on the stock exchange – most of them having
market makers. In early 2008 government
bonds trading was launched, as well as
status of market-maker for government bonds
was introduced. By the end of 2008, Armex
introduced new market for REPO (repurchase
agreements), as well as a mechanism for
manual trades. 100% thereof. After in late February 2008,
NASDAQ completed its combination with OMX,
NASDAQ OMX Armenia became an entity fully
owned by NASDAQ OMX. On 5 June 2009,
NASDAQ OMX Armenia became the owner of
the 100% of the shares of the Central Depository
of Armenia.
In April, 2010 NASDAQ OMX introduced new
market for credit resources trading, providing
exchange platform for interbank credits, a large
segment of the Armenian financial market, thus
contributing to the transparent and fair pricing
of credit resources, as well as equities, debt
instruments, and currency.
In 2011 NASDAQ OMX Armenia had the first
ever securities offering via the stock exchange
IPO system, which was an importaint step
towards servicing further IPOs at the Exchange.
NASDAQ OMX Armenia is currently part of
the NASDAQ OMX Group. In November 2007
members of CDA and Armex transferred their
shares to the CBA, and OMX Group acquired
FUTURE OUTLOOK
In 2012, NASDAQ OMX Armenia plans to:
• continue improving the technical
infrastructure of the stock exchange and the
central depository;
• continue expanding the range of services
provided to listed companies and trading
members;
• carry on with efforts to promote initial public
offerings of equities in the Armenian market;
• launch T+3 settlement mechanism, which
will enable exchange trading without pre-
deposition of securities and cash;
• establish a Guarantee Fund to increase
investor protection;
• continue efforts towards increasing public
awareness of the Armenian securities
market.