The Bucharest Stock Exchange becomes partner of the UN Initiative Sustainable Stock Exchanges
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) became stock exchange partner of the UN initiative Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE), according to a press release of BVB.
‘The SEE initiative was launched by the secretary general of UN Ban Ki-moon in 2009. It is a platform for peer-to-peer learning for the exploration of the way in which scholarships in collaboration with the investors, the regulators and the companies can strengthen the corporate transparency – and finally – as regards the issues connected to the environment, social issues and governance, as well as how they could encourage sustainable investments. The initiative is co-supported by the Principles for Responsible Investmeents, the Conference of the UN for Commerce andDevelopment (UNCTAD), the Financial Initiative for the Environment programme of UN (UNEP FI) and UN Global Compact’ the press release says.
BVB is the 19th member who joined the global initiative and the fourth European stock exchange together with Deutsche Borse, London Stock Exchange and Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The BVB participation to this project shows the commitment of the stock exchange for the creation of sustainable environment not only for the listed companies as well as for the investors’ Ludwik Sobolewski, the general manager of BVB said.
At present, the BVB is in a process of transformation of the capital market in Romania on an attractive destination for investments in the region of Central and Eastern Europe and the improvement of sustainability of the market is one of the key points. Starting with 2014, BVB together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BERD) put some effort for the reshaping of the Code for Corporate Governance and intends to implement it by mid-2015.
At the same time, BVB prepares to launch an indicator for corporate governance which will analyse the listed companies depending on their transparency, the quality of the reports, the accordance with the principles of the code of corporate governance, as well as the predictability of dividends and estimates.
‘As the European Union continues its activity of promotion of the corporate accountability and responsible investment, the stock exchange are important partners for the transposition of the public policies to the realities of the market. We welcome the BVB and the SSE initiative and we expect to cooperate in order to help promote the capital markets which put some effort in sustainable development’ James Zhan, the manager of UNCTAD Investment and Entreprise Division said.
Through the participation to the SSE initiative, BVB intends to consolidate their commitment to create a sustainable environment and transparent at the same time for all stakeholders, as well as to take part in the global forums and projects undertaken in multiple countries, to discuss the best practices and to learn from partner stock exchanges and other key stake holders.