Croatia and Iran are setting a new course for mutual cooperation in the financial services industry.
Croatia is seeking to work as a gateway for expansion of mutual investments between Iran and the European Union.
The representatives of Iran’s financial services industry met with their Croatian counterparts during the recently held annual conference of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) conference.
Representatives of Central Securities Depository of Iran (CSDI) met with Vesna ?ivkovi?, chairman of the Central Depository and Clearing Company Inc. (CDCC) and Stjepko ?i?ak, her co-member on the board of CDCC.
The two sides expressed their willingness for mutual cooperation throughout the meeting, which took place in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital.
Since Croatia is a member of the European Union, by linking the two clearing houses, the CDCC can act as a gateway for European investors to Iran’s capital markets and vice versa, ?ivkovi? said.
“We have gained considerable experience in clearing financial transactions and we are ready to share our expertise with Tehran,” IRNA quoted ?ivkovi? as saying.
Croatia is planning to start an energy exchange. “We are looking to transfer the know-how regarding the start-up of Iran Energy Exchange.” The IRENEX started operation in 2007 and launched its first crude oil exchange transaction in April this year.
At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to hold expert-level meetings to plan feasible steps to facilitate mutual cooperation and link the two clearing houses.
The next FEAS meeting will be hosted by the Tehran Stock Exchange, it was decided in the meeting. The FEAS is a non-profit international organization. It comprises of the main stock exchanges in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
FEAS was established on May 16, 1995 with 12 founding members. Currently, the organization has 33 members and 12 affiliates from 29 countries. Its members include Iran, Iraq, Albania, Turkey, Belarus, Bosnia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Romania, and Serbia.
The CDCC was founded on April 18, 1997, as a joint stock company called Central Depository Agency Inc. The name was changed into Central Depository & Clearing Company Inc. on March 13, 2009. It handles all the financial transactions in Croatia.
The Financial Agency (FINA) holds a 45 percent stake in CDCC, while 40 percent is state-owned and the rest is held by banks, brokerage houses, issuers, and Croatia’s organized markets.
CSDI, on the other hand, was established in 2005. It handles the registration, custody and transfer of securities ownership.
The company also manages the clearing and settlement of securities. CSDI is a public joint stock company, which is owned by the Securities & Exchange Organization, banks and brokers.
