GlobalConnect, GPW’s New Foreign Stock Market Has Launched

• On 4 November 2022, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) has launched a market for foreign stocks: GlobalConnect
• GlobalConnect allows investors to invest in shares of global companies in the Polish currency during trading sessions in Warsaw
• The first Introducing Market Maker is Santander Biuro Maklerskie, which will also make GlobalConnect available to retail investors
• The first stocks available for trading include: Allianz, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Siemens, Volkswagen

International blue chips on the Warsaw Stock Exchange: on 4 November 2022, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) has launched a new market for foreign stocks, GlobalConnect.

“For many years now, the Warsaw Stock Exchange has been working to expand and improve its product offering for capital market participants. The launch of GlobalConnect fits very well with this concept. The objective of GlobalConnect is to enable investors, particularly Polish retail investors, to diversify their investment portfolios geographically. The market will offer stocks from European markets and, in the second place, shares of companies from the US market,” said Izabela Olszewska, Member of the GPW Management Board. “We are starting with five German stocks but this is only the beginning. It is the intention of GPW and our business partners to put more stocks on offer for investors as soon as possible. We very much hope that the GlobalConnect market we offer will meet with interest and that investors will see the added value of the market. First and foremost, this includes easy access to the market through an account with a broker, using the usual access to GPW’s trading platform, combined with fact that quotations and trading will take place in the Polish currency,” added Izabela Olszewska.

The first five stocks to be listed on GlobalConnect are: Europe’s largest insurer Allianz, three automotive companies: BMW, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen, and the technology company Siemens.

Transactions on the new market are executed in the same way as on the GPW Main Market and NewConnect. KDPW is also involved in the operation of GlobalConnect: “KDPW and the Clearing House KDPW_CCP have exactly the same role in the GlobalConnect project as we have in clearing and settlement of transactions on the GPW Main Market and NewConnect. This means that the new market is very safe, transparent, and not a risk to market participants: brokerage houses which act on behalf of their clients,” said Maciej Trybuchowski, President of the KDPW Management Board.

Eleven brokerage houses have joined GlobalConnect to date. The first Introducing Market Maker is Santander Biuro Maklerskie, for which the launch of a foreign stock market on GPW is a natural extension of their offer: “Our brokerage service includes investments in foreign markets since 2003 ... As clients of a large financial group, our clients are keen and interested in opening accounts abroad with our group banks. Several factors have sparked our interest in GlobalConnect. The added value of the project is that it provides an offer for a new group of investors: those who, in addition to geographical diversification, are interested in investing in the Polish zloty. GlobalConnect addresses that demand,” said Wojciech Sieńczyk, Director of Santander Biuro Maklerskie.

On the first trading day, 172 transactions were made on the GlobalConnect market. Turnover amounted to almost PLN 83,000.