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Cyprus Stock Exchange To Star In New SitCom

Jeremy Hetherington-Gore, Tax-news.com, London

05 September 2000

You have to hand it to the Cypriots: faced with a near 50% fall this year in their Stock Exchange index after 1999's stunning 700% rise, and after multiple closures and frequent systems collapses, they are making the best of a bad job by turning the whole amazing tale into a sitcom.

"Every family, every individual has been affected by the Stock Exchange. Last year it was the talk of the day. It was crazy with prices going up all the time. People won a vast amount of money and then lost a lot as well," said a spokesman for programming at CyBC.

The programmes will star a trio of yuppie traders, one called 'Mobile' after his multiple cell phones, and two being repatriated Cypriots born in the former Belgian Congo. 'It’s not supposed to be about the market as an institution, but more about the people who broker and invest in it,' said one stockbroker who has been involved in researching the series, 'It might be very good.'

Shooting for the series begins this week, although the producers are still trying to gain permission from the Cyprus Stock Exchange to allow them to film a limited number of scenes inside the building to lend authenticity to the programme.

The Stock Exchange could be more concerned by the news that a group of investors is planning to sue it to reclaim their losses.


Takis Kole, Treasurer of the Pancyprian Association of Stock Market Investors, placed a newspaper advertisement last week inviting calls from various categories of discontented investors, including:

  • Anyone who purchased shares between October 1999 and March 2000 and suffered losses;
  • Anyone who could not sell their shares because of the closure of the CSE without warning; and
  • Anyone who could not sell their shares because the CSE, without warning, decided that transactions could not be made without title deeds.

That would be most of the country's adult population, if reports of last year's investment feeding frenzy can be taken at face value.

Kole's basic argument is that the CSE, through unannounced closures of the stock exchange or sudden changes in regulations, trapped investors, thus creating a false market in many shares. It is certainly true that the antics of the Stock Exchange's management last year weren't exactly calculated to inspire confidence in the market, but it will be another matter to convince a court that there was negligence.

Now if CyBC can combine Kole's court-room drama with their yuppie traders, they might have a seriously worthwhile television programme on their hands.

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