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EUROPE Winner...
ADAM MACIEJEWSKI Poland
COMPANY PROFILE
Warsaw Stock Exchange is one of the fastest developing exchanges in Europe and the biggest marketplace in Central and Eastern Europe. WSE is a CEE leader in terms of size of market, IPOs.
liquidity and number of
WSE stands out in the Central & Eastern European region with its share in equities trading at 58.5% in 2013 and capitalisation of companies listed representing 49.1%. In 2013, with 65 new issuers listed on its equities markets, WSE became the second most active exchange in Europe by the number of IPOs. It lists 58 foreign companies from all over the world, including USA, Israel, and China.
The WSE Group offers products and services for equities, derivatives, debt, structured products, power and natural gas, and property rights; it also offers clearing of transactions, the Register of Certificates of Origin of electricity, and market information services.
Since 15 April 2013, WSE operates the Universal Trading Platform (UTP), purchased from NYSE Technologies. In 2012 WSE acquired a controlling stake in the Polish Power Exchange (PolPX), and in 2014 it acquired a 30% stake in Aquis Exchange, a pan-European multilateral trading facility, based in London.
CEO INSIGHT... Q
What are your most important achievements
at Warsaw Stock Exchange?
It is extremely hard to pick the most important events, as I have been at WSE for twenty years and have been involved in building the Exchange almost from scratch. I am glad I played a part in making WSE what it is now - the biggest marketplace in Central and Eastern Europe with a clear growth strategy, ready to embrace new and brave ideas which bring new capital to local and regional companies. We have already seen the concrete results of our new strategy. Last year, growth in equity trading turnover at WSE was four times higher than the EU average. Our recently announced business diversification approach secures our company’s stable development for the future. This might be the most important step for the company in recent years. Our new strategy is the result of hard work by the whole WSE team, not just the CEO. There is no leader without a team.
Q
Could you provide any concrete projects that
will support your company’s growth?
One of the key projects completed within the last couple of months was our successful rollout of the new technology – UTP. Even in usually high-risk post-launch period, we still maintained 100% accessibility of the trading system. Having UTP gives
us entry to the Champions League of exchanges. It enables us to introduce completely new products, business lines, and bring in new investors. There is a lot more happening on WSE, for example, just recently, we created a local rating agency to support development of our fixed income market, acquired a significant stake in Aquis Exchange - a new MTF based in London, introduced new derivatives, upgraded our indices and reduced trading costs by 50% on our flagship WIG20 index futures by changing the size of the contract. We solved the issue of “penny stocks” and conducted a comprehensive reform of our alternative markets - NewConnect and Catalyst. Additionally, we are working on a new project called Warsaw Start-up Space. It aims to help start-ups in securing capital – possibly through a crowdfunding platform. We are also in talks with the Ministry of Finance on a new Capital Market Strategy, which aims to strengthen the Polish Economy via the capital markets and incentivise Poles into long-term capital investments. Of course, there is the CEE exchange consolidation project... the list is much longer.
Q
What was the key driver for these successes? Is it a
matter of luck, talent or skills?
It’s a mixture of a team effort, experience, resistance against making ‘populist’ choices, openness to new ideas and courage, but the key is motivation. As CEO you need to be
Adam Maciejewski, CEO of Warsaw Stock Exchange Website: www.wse.com.pl
motivated by your desire to change the world for the better and your team must share the same values. One must understand that change is in general, at first rejected.
Q
What was the biggest challenge to overcome during your tenure?
Our biggest challenge was getting ready for stronger competition in upcoming years. The exchange sector is changing dynamically and only the innovative exchanges, looking for new sources of growth will be able to remain competitive and attractive propositions.
Q
Is it easy to be a successful CEO these times?
It depends on the definition of being successful. I believe that CEOs or leaders more generally, should be judged with a long term perspective in mind. Avoiding short-termism is vital. It is fairly easy to score a few quick successes, but it is a different story when you ask yourself how these decisions will affect the company in a few years.
Q
What is your recommendation for young managers?
Respect experience of your elder colleagues, learn from them, but do not be afraid to find innovative solutions and a build team around you that you can trust.
CEO of Warsaw Stock Exchange
FINANCE MONTHLY CEO AWARDS 2014