The Ukraine and Eastern Europe are looking to position themselves among the forefront of the global emerging markets.

“The role of Ukraine and East European economies will increase in the near future because these markets have been recently growing faster compared to the average growth rate shown by European markets,” Oleg Tkachenko, chief executive officer of the Ukrainian Exchange, told Markets Media via email. “For several years we have seen successful IPOs on the leading exchanges by companies owning assets in Ukraine. At the same time individual and institutional investors grow more active on the local market. We shall soon see successful IPOs on the Ukrainian market as well with participation of both local and international investors.”

“All of the Eastern European markets are looking to become more in line with worldwide standards, and opening up to foreign participation,” said Yuriy Shterk, vice president of product development at CQG. “The ease of doing business is improving. There’s more interest coming in from clients looking to trade in those markets. We see this continuing.”

CQG, which has been involved in the Eastern European markets for several years with connectivity to the Russian Trading System, has recently added low-latency trading connectivity to the Ukrainian Exchange. The Russian Trading System, or RTS, is the Ukrainian Exchange’s largest shareholder.

The connectivity to the exchange is targeted specifically to Western European and Russian customers, although the company says that some local Ukrainian investors have also inquired about using the connectivity. Due to CFTC regulations, stateside investors are not allowed to trade on the exchange.

With the added connectivity to the Ukrainian Exchange as well as through continued initiatives, the venue anticipates further potential for growth.

“Being a young company, the Ukrainian Exchange has already introduced significant improvements to the Ukrainian market including real-time calculation of its equity index, order-driven market which made online securities trading possible for private investors, and launched a derivatives market,” said Tkachenko. “At the very start the Ukrainian Exchange was alliance oriented. RTS Stock Exchange based in Moscow, Russia, with a 43% stake is the largest shareholder. Currently RTS is in the process of merger with MICEX, another major Russian exchange. We expect that as a result of this merger the Ukrainian Exchange will get a powerful partner in this region.”