The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC; el, Επιτροπή Κεφαλαιαγοράς), established as a legal entity by

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Law in 1991 and organized by the Greek Law 2324 of 1995, aims to "ensure the protection and the orderly and efficient operation of the capital market, which is crucial for the growth of the

national economy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

" of Greece. The HCMC is a Member of the

European Securities and Markets Authority The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is an independent European Union Authority located in Paris. ESMA replaced the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 1 January 2011. It is one of the three new European Supe ...

(ESMA) and "operates within its framework and under its auspices". According to

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HCMC is the competent authority for supervising securities laws in Greece, including tender offers.

Mandate

The commission is responsible for monitoring compliance with the provisions of capital market law, and is funded by fees paid by the supervised entities. These include Investment Firms, Mutual Fund Management Firms, Portfolio Investment Companies, Real Estate Investment Companies and Financial Intermediation Firms. The HCMC also oversees companies listed on the

Athens Stock Exchange The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE or ATHEX; el, Χρηματιστήριο Αθηνών (Χ.Α.), ''Chrimatistírio Athinón'') is the stock exchange of Greece, based in the capital city of Athens. It was founded in 1876. There are currently five ...

, ensuring compliance with capital market legislation. Because of problems caused by the financial crisis that blew up in mid 2010, the commission banned short selling of shares listed in the Athens Exchange effective 28 April 2010, to remain in force until 28 June 2010.

Legal framework

Until 2000, there were no laws covering corporate governance in Greece. The HCMC set up the Committee on Corporate Governance in April 1999, which issued the Mertzanis Report in October 1999, entitled ''Principles on Corporate Governance in Greece: Recommendations for its Competitive Transformation''. This functioned as a voluntary code. In November 2000 the HCMC issued the mandatory ''Code of Conduct for Companies Listed on the Athens Stock Exchange'', which requires listed entities to establish an internal audit unit to monitor the company's audit process, reporting to the board of directors. Law No. 3016 of 2002 regulating corporate governance went into force on 20 June 2003, and allows the HCMC to impose sanctions for non-compliance, but the law has been criticized for lacking detail. The chairman of the commission from 1996 to 2004 was

Stavros Thomadakis Stavros Thomadakis is a Greek economist who served as chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, Professor of Finance at the University of Athens and chairman of the Public Interest Oversight Board. Academic career Thomadakis was born in ...

, who went on to become first chairman of the

Public Interest Oversight Board The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) is an international body that oversees the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and seeks to improve the quality and public interest focus of the IFAC standards in the areas of audit, education, ...

in March 2005. As of June 2011 the chairman was Anastassios Gabrielides.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://www.frsglobal.com/regions/greece.html , title=Regulators in Greece , accessdate=2011-06-07 , publisher=FRS Belgium NV , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918111640/http://www.frsglobal.com/regions/greece.html , archivedate=2011-09-18 Finance in Greece 1927 establishments in Greece

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

1991 in Greece Athens Exchange Regulation in Greece