Practical Aspects of Bank Activities in the Bulgarian Financial Market

Georgi Yordanov, Legal Adviser, Eurobank EFG

The history of the Bulgarian capital market is relatively young – it roots back from the beginning of the 20th century, when in 1907 the first Stock Exchange Act was adopted few years later (on April 15th 1914) the first Bulgarian stock exchange - Sofia Stock Exchange - was established. At the end of World War II and the establishment of the communist regime in Bulgaria in 1947 Sofia Stock Exchange ceased its operations. The rebuilding of the Bulgarian capital market began after the collapse of the communist regime, as in July 1991 the new Commerce Act put the grounds of the modern Bulgarian commercial law. After the establishment of the First Bulgarian Stock Exchange in October 1991 between 1992 and 1994 tens of regional stock exchanges opened and to a certain extent have been operating in the market. However the local capital market at this time was functioning in a completely de-regulated environment. In July 1995 the Securities, Stock Exchanges and Investment Companies Act was adopted and on this bases the Securities and Stock Exchanges Commission (SSEC) was established. In December 1995 the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (later renamed as Bulgarian Stock Exchange –Sofia AD) was established after the merger of 5 regional exchanges and two years later was officially licensed by the Bulgarian Securities and Stock Exchanges Commission. Since August 1996 the Central Depository AD (CD) acts as the only institution in Bulgaria providing settlement of corporate securities in book-entry form. In the following years a number of issuers (incl. privatization funds, etc.) have listed their securities on the regulated market through initial and/or secondary public offering.