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/ Brokers at war with the Stock Exchange
/
THE FALL-OUT between the Cyprus Stock Exchange Council and brokerage firms
was given great prominence as were the ongoing diplomatic moves with regard
to the Cyprus problem.
_Simerini
_ reported that a clash between the CSE council and stockbrokers had been
sparked by the President of the former, Dinos Papadopoulos, who said that
the closure of the exchange could be extended. What particularly angered
brokers was his threat allow ordinary people to buy and sell shares, thus
opening up the closed shop enjoyed by brokerage firms.
Stockbrokers claimed that allowing transactions to be carried out outside
the Stock Exchange would destroy the institution and create a black market.
They described Papadopoulos' threat to impose fines against brokerages
amounting to two million pounds as vindictive, and slammed him for urging
investors to take legal action against stockbrokers.
_Politis
_ reported that the Stock Exchange was certain to open on Monday. However,
Papadopoulos had noted that on Thursday the CSE Council would announce the
names of the brokerage firms that would not be allowed to trade, so that
the interests of investors were protected. The firms that will be suspended
are those which have still not cleared their backlog of work.
The Council will go ahead with its decision to fine stockbrokers 30 pounds
a day for every day they delayed to submit transactions. He laid
responsibility for the delays in the issuing of title deeds on the
stockbrokers who had only recently forwarded the paperwork to public
companies. Papadopoulos also conceded that the backlog problem had not been
resolved despite the closure of the CSE.
_Alithia
_ said that the United States had worked very hard to prepare for President
Clinton's meeting with Turkey's Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and hoped this
would yield results. The US and the Greek side saw the meeting as the key
to Cyprus progress. The Turkish side, however, had avoided linking the
Clinton-Ecevit meeting that was to have taken place last night to the
Cyprus peace efforts.
_Phileleftheros
_ said that Ankara was at pains to play down the optimism cultivated by the
Americans. Before even arriving in the US for his meeting, Ecevit had
attempted to banish the Cyprus issue from the agenda of his discussions
with Clinton.
During a stopover in Brussels, Ecevit had "provocatively" said that the
Cyprus problem had been resolved and that he did not expect Turkey to come
under any pressure from the US. Those who believed the problem still
existed should appeal to the two communities, he said. As regards the
upgrading of Turkey's status in relation to the EU, he said he was not
concerned as it would be the EU which would be knocking at Turkey's door in
the future.
_Haravghi
_ predicted that Clinton and Ecevit were to discuss a Cyprus settlement at
last night's meeting. According to diplomatic sources, the US hoped that
the meeting would pave the way for the implementation of the plans it had
formulated for Cyprus and Turkey's EU accession course. The US was trying
to link the Cyprus problem with Turkey's EU accession course, which was why
Ankara was trying separating the two issues.
_Machi
_ reported that the United States had adopted a suggestion by British envoy
Sir David Hannay for getting round the thorny issue of a rotating
presidency in Cyprus. Sir David had suggested a change in the constitution
so that a prime minister would have executive power, while the president
would just be a figurehead.
© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999
