Investment house Merrill Lynch is the first applicant for remote membership on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). The application was submitted by its subsidiary Merrill Lynch International (MLI).
Merrill was bought by Bank of America in September in a $50 billion all-stock transaction.
Merrill Lynch is one of the largest brokerage houses in the world. Its subsidiary, Merrill Lynch International, a member of the London Stock Exchange for over ten years, operates on behalf of large institutional investors around the globe.
Merrill Lynch’s remote membership will enable the company to provide its clients with direct access to TASE trading. At the same time, its membership will increase the exposure of TASE listed companies to a broad spectrum of foreign investors.
Merrill Lynch has been working on technical and other details since 2007. Its London office is now connected to the TASE’s trading platform, which allows Merrill Lynch traders in London to trade directly on TASE.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is owned by its 28 members 14 banks and 14 investment houses. Four are foreign entities with permanent representation in Israel: UBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Citibank.
Merrill Lynch managing director EMEA investment banking Yoram Inbar, who is also Merrill's country head for Israel, said: "Merrill Lynch's decision to become a remote member of the TASE is a sign of confidence in the Israeli economy and deepens Merrill’s trading platform on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange. This further enhances Merrill Lynch’s long term commitment to the State of Israel and its capital markets."
"Israel plays a vital part of our overall EMEA equities strategy”, added Merrill Lynch , managing director EMEA emerging markets sales and trading Henry Hall.
TASE CEO Ester Levanon welcomed Merrill Lynch’s application, stating, “Merrill Lynch’s desire for remote membership in TASE expresses its confidence in Israel’s capital market and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange," and she added, "We are confident that this step will be instrumental in broadening the circle of foreign investors active in Israel.”
Merrill Lynch has client assets of approximately $1.5 trillion. Merrill Lynch owns approximately half of investment manager BlackRock, which has more than $1 trillion in assets under management.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has about 650 listed companies and a total equity market capitalization of US$145 billion, in addition to about $166 billion in listed bonds.
Remote membership on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange enables foreign banks and investment houses such as Merrill Lynch International, which are domiciled abroad to become TASE members and engage directly in trading on the exchange. Eligible companies are international banks and investment firms from specified countries that have been stock exchange members in their home countries for at least ten years on one of the following markets: the London Stock Exchange, Euronext, the New York Stock Exchange, DTB (Frankfurt), Eurex (Germany), SWE (Switzerland) or TSE (Tokyo). Remote members must possess equity capital of at least US$ 1 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 17, 2008
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