President of the WSE: WIG will reach 200,000 faster than Bitcoin

Symbolic 100,000 points on WIG is just the beginning – assures the president of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Tomasz Bardzdziowski. In an interview with Andrzej Stec, he reveals what he is behind spectacular increases, when we can count on subsequent records and what to do to attract new companies and new investors to the stock market.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange has just exceeded the barrier of 100,000 points on its main WIG index. This is a unique moment that emphasizes the dynamics and the growing strength of the Polish capital market. “We are proud of this success (…) Our indexes have been the best in the world since the beginning of the year and record increases reaching over 30 percent,” says Tomasz Bardziłowski, president of the WSE.

So when can we expect WIG to double its value and reach 200,000 points? The president is an optimist: I think it will succeed in this decade. What's more, according to Bardzdziowski, WIG can overtake one of the greatest competitors in the world of finance – Bitcoin cryptocurrency – including a correspondence race to a level of 200,000. “We know what to do to be better than Bitcoin and reach these 200,000 points on the VIG faster than $ 200,000 on Bitcoin,” emphasizes Bardziłowski.

Despite the impressive results, the success of the WSE is today more visible outside of Poland. Foreign investors are responsible for about 70% of turnover on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, while Polish individual investors are just beginning to notice the chances of the Polish capital market. “We have many ideas on what to do to attract individual investors to the capital market, so that they can also use the fruits of this growth, the fruits of the success of the Polish economy. For this you need good instruments.” – explains the president.

One of such tools are ETF funds that allow cheap and convenient investing on the market. But not only the instruments are important. “We need a strong economy and good companies that generate profits, pay dividends that are well managed and supervised. We have all this now. We only need to talk about it louder and also with such promotion of the capital market we intend to leave soon,” adds Barłowski.

In Poland, there is a huge potential of companies – family and private companies that can develop thanks to capital obtained on the stock exchange. “We want to go out to them all and say that if you want to develop, then there is capital on the stock exchange that can finance your investments. You can get out of your investments on the stock exchange.” – emphasizes the president of the WSE, giving an example of a successful debut of the Diagnostyka company.

However, to fully use this potential, it is necessary to convince Poles to invest their savings on the stock exchange. The value of assets in Polish pension funds is one of the lowest in Europe, which is why we must strengthen institutional capital and attract individual investors – says the president of the WSE. “There is a whole crowd of potential investors now saving whether in banks or on the real estate market. This is the area we want to enter. These are those investors who want to show that on the stock exchange, on the capital market there is a lot of chances to earn, whether for retirement or other life needs.” – explains Bardzdziowski.

Finally, the President of the WSE also announces that the WSE will pay dividend as a company. “We announced the intention to pay a dividend of PLN 3.15. This is over 6% of the dividend rate. So we, as a stock exchange, offer a dividend that exceeds what can be obtained on bank deposits.”

Bardiłowski notes that also in many large companies there is a change in dividend policy. “In particular the most famous companies, in state -owned companies, banks, Orlen, PZU – dividends are record -high.” And here is the chance for investors to use it ” – sums up the President of the WSE.

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