NYSE Euronext and Microfis plan to set up the first organised market for listing and trading of bonds based on debt from international microfinance institutions and solidarity businesses as defined by the Economic Modernisation Act (LME).
The new NYSE Euronext market segment will offer investors a range of products in an environment that is secure and transparent.
Microfis will handle origination, analysis and tracking of high-quality assets, as well as their transformation into tradable securities and their syndication.
Scheduled for launch in the last quarter of 2010, the market segment is dedicated to responsible finance.
Paris Europlace, the organisation that promotes the Paris financial marketplace, has backed the initiative.
“Developing a new class of assets based on solidarity is a means of taking part in inclusive growth and contributing to greater economic and financial stability,” says Dominique Cerutti (pictured), deputy chief executive officer of NYSE Euronext. “This initiative testifies to NYSE Euronext’s ongoing commitment to strengthening the different communities in which we work through concrete, innovative responses to the challenge of financing.”
“Microfis was set up to meet needs exacerbated by the current crisis of returning finance to its true role: matching savings with real economy’s investment needs. By working together to provide the technical resources to create a new class of assets in Paris, NYSE Euronext and Microfis are meeting this ambitious goal, and the creation of a special market segment represents a major step ahead. It should lead to a substantial rise in the resources available to microfinance institutions worldwide and to French solidarity businesses,” adds Cyrille Parant, chairman of Microfis.
