"To be or not to be, that is our situation now, and I use such a terminal expression deliberately. We have a big problem, and the issue of regulation must be addressed - and I have something encouraging to say: the Economic Arrangements bill includes an entire section which deals with the subject. It states that every action by the regulator must also consider economic growth and competitiveness, and reduce the regulatory burden on companies," said Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) CEO Esther Levanon at the "Globes"-BDO Ziv Haft Capital Market Conference in Tel Aviv today.
"There will be a super-committee of regulators, but like every law in Israel, there is small print hidden inside. The small print says, 'The decision will apply to every regulator, except for… the Bank of Israel, the Israel Securities Authority, and the Ministry of Finance's Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Department," said Levanon. "I suggest asking them to consider adopting the Economic Arrangements bill."
"We need serious resuscitation here," Levanon added, "but until it is carried out, someone has to give the patient artificial respiration to ensure that he won't die when the big correction comes. We doing all kinds of things, but none of them are the solution with a capital 'S'. We need to ensure that we won't reach the red line, below which foreign investors cannot really operate here.
"We're launching new products, such as weekly options, new indices, and to bring us closer to Europe - whether or not we're included in the MSCI Europe we must draw closer to Europe, because that is where foreign trading in Israel comes from. If a banker in London returns from lunch at 2:30 pm and we're closed, even if he wants to, he can't invest in Tel Aviv. This is intended not only to increase the TASE's liquidity and revenue, but also to increase foreign awareness of the TASE."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 20, 2013
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