Shmuel Hauser receives three-year extension to head Securities Authority
Israel extended the term of Securities Authority chairman Shmuel Hauser by three years to give him more time to implement a plan to bring more investors back to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
The exchange, which despite a modest recovery last year has seen volumes dwindle since 2010, is in the process of being demutualized and turned into a for-profit entity.
Israel was deprived of a chunk of passive investments five years ago when it was upgraded to developed-market status from emerging by index compiler MSCI.
Hauser’s five-year term had been due to end in May, but Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said he was extending his term so he could get the job done.
“We are beginning today a process of strengthening the bourse and restoring it to its place as the engine of the Israeli economy,” Kahlon said, in reference to a draft law issued by his ministry.
The changes are designed to make the bourse more competitive and enable it to lower trading commissions, he added.
Kahlon said the exchange’s trading days, currently Sunday to Thursday to match Israel’s work week, will be changed to Monday-Friday to bring it into line with much of the rest of the world.
The exchange is currently controlled by its members – brokerage firms that are largely from the banking system.
Changes to the structure should reduce conflicts of interest between management and the bourse’s members and decrease the dominance of the banks, Kahlon said. The banks’ representation on the exchange’s board will fall to 35 percent from 71%.
Measures will also be implemented to encourage members of the bourse to sell their holdings and to bring in more international members, he said.
TASE’s equity-trading volume improved in 2015 to NIS 1.4 billion ($359 million) a day from NIS 1.2b. in 2014. But this was still below 2010’s NIS 2b. average. (Reuters)