Borsa İstanbul A.Ş. CEO Korkmaz Ergun made statements regarding the new financial products and services that Borsa Istanbul has recently activated, and its targets for the upcoming period.

Stating that the capital market has a significant growth potential in terms of supply and demand, Ergun said, “We believe that we will make significant progress with respect to our country's economy by channeling this potential more effectively. To achieve this, Borsa İstanbul sets forth a goal where more companies have the opportunity to procure resources, a wider and more vigorous investor base is reached, new financial products and services are developed in line with the market needs, which is focused on the growth of the markets, and we, as Borsa İstanbul endeavor to achieve these goals.”

“We start to calculate three new indices”

In order to reach the goals set forth, Ergun made remarks on new developments activated and will be put into effect in the upcoming period: “As of today, we start to calculate 3 new Indices. In all these indices, spot gold prices and exchange rates realized in international markets will be used simultaneously. Indices will be calculated every 10 seconds during the day. One of them is BIST Spot Gold Index. The index is created to reflect changes in gold prices and to be used as an underlying asset or benchmark in various financial instruments that invest in physical gold, such as mutual funds or exchange-traded funds. The other two are BIST Gold-Denominated Lease Certificates and BIST Gold Bond indices. These indices will reflect changes in gold prices as well as the rental returns of Gold-Denominated Lease Certificates or the interest returns of Gold Bonds. Hence, the need for an Index, which can be used as an underlying asset or benchmark by the funds investing in gold-Denominated Lease Certificates and Gold Bonds issued by the Treasury, will be met and more demand will be created for the securities issued by the Treasury.”

“We continue the development of two new indices”

Along with three new indices Borsa Istanbul starts to calculate, Ergun asserts that they will implement the participation index, which will consist of companies operating in line with the participation finance standards, and maintains that they plan to increase the product diversity in the field of participation finance with products that will use this index as a benchmark.

Ergun said, “Our work on sustainability, which is attracting a great deal of attention from investors, gaining prominence all over the world and is on our agenda as Borsa İstanbul as well, continues at full speed. While developing the Sustainability Index, we will also launch new products and services in this field. By the same token, we will synchronize the indexes of our Stock Exchange with the principles of IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commissions) and meet the criteria of ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) in this field.

Ergun: “We continue to launch new derivative transactions”

Ergun contends that they have achieved significant progress in both the transaction volume and product diversity in derivative products, further stating as follows: “With 13 shares we launched, the number of open future transactions has reached 51 as of today. The number of investor accounts in this market has reached high levels.

Aside from our existing products, we set out to launch new future contracts on different commodities. Within this context, we can affirm that our work on platinum and palladium future contracts is coming to an end.

Moreover, in order to manage the interest rate risks of financial institutions and institutional investors, and to ensure effective price formation by increasing the fluidity between the spot market and the futures market, the Government Domestic Debt Securities Futures Contracts, whose underlying asset is government securities, will soon be listed in the Derivatives Market (VIOP) As such, we set out to provide the opportunity of investing in new products and managing risks to our investors and companies.

Lastly, we intend to increase the liquidity in our options markets in the upcoming period with the updates we made in the market making program, which plays an active role in the development of our derivatives markets.”

“We activate new developments in our Precious Metals Market”

Regarding their work in the precious metals market, Borsa İstanbul CEO Korkmaz Ergun,  said, “We have provided the opportunity to list new order types in our Precious Metals Market in order to facilitate listing. By the same token, a new system has been implemented where our members can transmit the instructions they will use during their transactions in an electronic environment. Furthermore, the warehouse, which was established within our Precious Metals Market for the purpose of storing precious metals within the framework of customs legislation, has also been put into effect.

“The interest of companies in public offerings continues”

The interest of companies in Borsa Istanbul continues to ramp up. This year, approximately 12 billion TL was provided from the public offerings of our 26 companies. We expect this number to increase further by the end of the year. Last year, 1.1 billion TL was provided with 8 public offerings.

Ergun further holds as follows: “Our meetings proceed by visiting industrial and commercial companies that are the dynamo of our country's growth. Rather than sharing the operating profits of our companies with banks as financial expenses, by utilizing public offerings and different capital market instruments, we aim to share some of their profits with the public, and to strengthen the equity of the companies with the remaining profits.

Having asserted that they have developed venture capital opportunities, Ergun underlined that they maintain necessary infrastructure works in order to meet the financing needs of the early stage ventures (start-ups) on their journey to the public offering.

Ergun also contends that they moved the Borsa Istanbul Money Market to the BISTECH system as part of their goal of operating in an integrated manner on an end to end single platform

“We proceed to work on raising financial literacy in line with our goals”

Ergun underlines that Borsa Istanbul's Data Center has been expanded to facilitate fast and secure market access for all stakeholders, including investment institutions and service providers. Hence, Borsa İstanbul is a Stock Exchange that can be easily accessed by all investors, offers alternative access opportunities in line with different needs and provides services at international standards.

Stating that they continue to provide all services uninterruptedly as Borsa İstanbul during the pandemic storming through the world, Ergun maintains that they have been seriously tested as a sector and have been able to keep up with the changing conditions rapidly.

Ergun further highlighted the significant increase in the number of investors, contending that they aim to raise the financial literacy of investors and ensure that they become conscious investors. Within this framework, he indicates that they carried out activities such as promotional videos, web-based seminars, financial literacy publications at TRT EBA and financial support for the research reports of intermediary institutions.