The İzmir Mercantile Exchange, or IME, and the Turkish Derivatives Exchange, or Turkdex, are working hard at taking a concrete step for licensed warehousing this year, according to Işınsu Kestelli, chairwoman of both exchanges.
With the termination of legislation problems, we want to build licensed warehouses for proper products, including cotton, said Kestelli Friday.
The talks are ongoing with mercantile exchanges, producer associations such as Agricultural Sales Cooperatives Unions, or TARİŞ, banks and related institutions, Kestelli said. “We want Turkdex to get involved with this process.”
Kestelli also evaluated the conflict between the Istanbul Stock Exchange, or ISE, and Turkdex, caused by the trading of single-stock futures contracts.
“Turkdex is Turkey’s first and only derivatives exchange,” she said. “We started working on this project of single-stock futures contracts trading at the Turkdex about two-and-a-half years ago. No one objected at the time. When we finished out studies, we started waiting for an authorization from the Capital Markets Board. We think the correct place for futures contracts to be traded is Turkdex, which has become a lifesaver for stock brokers for the past five years and provided employment during global crisis,” Kestelli said.
While the trading of single-stock futures were being discussed, another idea was born related to the need to increase ISE shares in Turkdex, said Kestelli. But IME and the other partners did not have a positive approach towards that idea, she said.
Noting that the current partnership and administration structure boosted the exchange from 3 billion Turkish Liras trading volume to 334 billion liras within five years, Kestelli said: “Those figures are a great success. But if we did not spend our time with discussions and revealed some new instruments, we would be talking about higher transaction volumes now.”
A new software project is also at the top of Turkdex’s agenda for 2010, said Kestelli, adding that the exchange market can have a wider product range after concluding the studies it has been conducting. By the end of this year option contracts will also start trading on the Turkdex, she said.
