Players on the Bulgarian capital market were hoping that the new executive team of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) will improve communication and cooperation with the market, a poll by Dnevnik of brokerage executives and industry groups showed.

BSE shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposed reshuffle at an extraordinary meeting on January 20 2010.

Under the proposal by Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov, representing the biggest shareholder with 44 per cent, the terms of BSE board members will be terminated early, with two people keeping their roles and the board's size reduced to five from seven members.

Market representatives said that under the previous management, differences in opinion often overshadowed issues on which there was common ground.

"I hope the new management will contribute to improving dialogue with the whole investment community, including bourse members and the regulator when cooperation is needed," the deputy chairperson of the Financial Supervision Commission Ralitsa Againe said.

In 2009, Againe squared off against the operator’s former management, which voted changes allowing BSE to kick out more than 200 illiquid companies with over 900 000 small shareholders on the grounds they tarnished the market's reputation.

Other stock exchange stakeholders suggested the new BSE management should implement concrete reforms.

"Regulatory hoops issuers have to jump through should be removed and some fees could be revised and lowered," Vassil Velev, chairperson of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), told Dnevnik.

Source: Dnevnik