Istanbul Stock Exchange

The Istanbul Stock Exchange was established on December 26, 1985 for the purpose of ensuring that securities are traded in a secure and stable environment, and commenced to operate on January 3, 1986. The ISE has contributed to the development of Turkish capital markets and Turkish economy since the date of its establishment.

Established as per the Governmental Decree in Force of Law (KHK) No.91, the ISE  is a public corporation operating as an autonomous and professional institution. The ISE is entitled to issue legal regulations related to the subjects and fields within the scope of its authority.

The General Assembly comprising of the ISE Members is the supreme decision making body. The Executive Council of the ISE comprises of the Chairman and four members. While the Chairman is appointed as per a tripartite decree, members of the Executive Council and auditors are elected by the General Assembly of ISE.

Hüseyin ERKAN was appointed Chairman&CEO of the ISE on November 2, 2007.

MARKETS

ISE offers the opportunity to invest in various products in an organized, transparent and reliable trading floor to local and international investors with its modern technological capabilities. On all markets of ISE, transactions are conducted electronically, and the market information is announced real-time.

ISE markets are organized under four main categories:

Stock Market ISE Stock Market where publicly-held companies from various sectors are traded offers a liquid, transparent and safe investment floor for local and foreign investors.

Emerging Companies MarketThe securities of companies that do not fulfill the listing requirements of the Exchange, but promise a development and growth potential can be traded on the Emerging Companies Market.

Bonds and Bills Market The Bonds and Bills Market is the only organized market for both fixed income securities trading and repo-reverse repo transactions.

Foreign Securities Market On the Foreign Securities Market, foreign debt securities which have been issued by the Undersecretariat of Treasury of Turkey and listed on the Exchange (“Eurobonds”) are traded.

PRODUCTS

Stocks, bonds and bills, exchange traded funds and warrants are traded on the ISE markets. ISE assures that securities are traded on organized markets in a reliable and transparent environment and fosters competitive conditions for the formation of prices.
Investors willing to engage in the trading of securities on the ISE markets have to get an authorized intermediary institution to open an account.

It is vital for a securities investor to have an accurate and complete knowledge of the benefits supplied by financial products, returns and risks, and principles of trading and settlement. Clarifying investment in securities for everyone will enable a much effective utilization of the capital markets by individual investors.

INDICES

ISE designs different types of indices so as to enable investors to track the ISE markets. Respectively, 43 and 18 indices are computed for the stock market and the bonds and bills market.

Stock market indices calculated include both the price and return indices. While price indices reflect only the change in prices, divident payments are also taken into account in return indices.

Bonds and bills market indices comprise price and performance indices. While price indices measure the price change caused by the variation in market interest rate, performance indices measure the yield earned by the investor with reference to both the variation in interest rate and the reduction in the number of days to maturity.

Investment institutions willing to issue financial products based on ISE indices and/or to calculate an index using ISE data have to sign a license agreement with ISE.

SOURCE: ISTANBUL STOCK EXCHANGE