Enhancing Europe’s Competitiveness and Greece’s role in Stock Listings: A Path Forward

As an academic specializing in financial markets and Chairman of the Union of Listed Companies in Greece, I have long advocated for structural reforms to bolster Europe’s position in global capital markets. Europe faces significant challenges in attracting stock listings and initial public offerings (IPOs), particularly when compared to the dominance of U.S. exchanges such as NYSE and NASDAQ. The fragmentation of European markets, with multiple national exchanges, dilutes liquidity and scale, making it harder for innovative companies—especially in technology—to access deep pools of capital. To compete, Europe must prioritize the creation of a unified pan-European stock market, which would provide the necessary scale and liquidity to rival global giants. An instructive analogy can be drawn from post-trade infrastructure: in clearing and settlement, TARGET2-Securities (T2S) already provides a common technical platform, while national CSDs and markets remain in place. A similar logic could apply at the trading layer, with a common order-routing and consolidated order-book architecture under which orders from all participating exchanges are effectively channelled into a single European order book. National exchanges would continue to exist as listing venues and supervisory points of reference, but liquidity would be pooled at a common execution layer, improving price discovery, narrowing spreads and lowering the cost of capital, particularly for smaller and mid-cap issuers. Such integration could harmonize regulations, reduce listing costs, and foster a vibrant ecosystem in which companies can grow without feeling compelled to seek overseas markets.

Key strategies should include leveraging Europe’s strengths, such as its emphasis on sustainable and innovative sectors, while removing unnecessary complexity through initiatives like the EU’s Omnibus packages, which aim to simplify compliance and reduce administrative burdens for companies. These Omnibus initiatives, including the recent simplification agenda and Digital Omnibus proposals, focus on easing requirements in areas such as sustainability reporting and digital regulation, thereby making it easier to attract listings by alleviating regulatory frictions. All of the above initiatives are steps in the right direction, but even more radical measures are needed. Europe currently tends to “export” regulation, and this mindset must change if it is to remain competitive.

To further incentivize IPOs, Europe should consider introducing measures such as the notional interest deduction, a tax regime under which a company is allowed to deduct a deemed (notional) interest expense, calculated on certain equity components, from its taxable profits, as if that equity issued in a market had been provided in the form of interest-bearing debt. Additionally, expenses incurred for compliance with capital markets regulatory requirements could benefit from a 200% super-deduction when offset against taxable income. Streamlining IPO processes through targeted incentives for retail and institutional investors—such as tax advantages or simplified compliance requirements—could also encourage more domestic listings. Taken together, and in a macroeconomic environment of moderating inflation and gradual interest rate cuts, these measures would help reignite Europe’s IPO engine and support long-term economic growth.

Turning to Athens, positioning it as a hub for financial services and capital markets in Southeast Europe requires capitalizing on Greece’s strategic geography and recent developments, while significantly reducing regulatory burdens and modernizing supervision. With Euronext’s acquisition of the Athens Stock Exchange (Athex), Athens is poised to become a gateway for the region, enhancing cross-border liquidity and access to financing for corporates in the Balkans and beyond. To realise this potential, Greece must decisively reduce bureaucracy in financial services—long a drag on economic efficiency—by digitizing processes and streamlining administrative procedures.

Furthermore, revisiting strict laws on corporate governance is essential. Greece should move away from a one-size-fits-all hard-law approach toward a more competitive and modern corporate governance code that emphasizes meaningful (substantive) compliance or robust and transparent “explain” principles. To attract foreign listings, Greece could offer tax incentives for companies listed on Athex, calibrated to the number of employees in a permanent establishment in Greece. Implementing Savings and Investment Accounts, with a particular emphasis on new tech companies and SMEs listed in Europe, would channel retail investments toward innovative firms and boost liquidity.

In conclusion, by pursuing these reforms—including Omnibus-driven simplification, substantial bureaucracy reduction, and modernized governance principles—Europe can begin to reclaim its edge in global listings, while Athens emerges as a dynamic hub driving regional prosperity. As stakeholders, we must collaborate—policymakers, exchanges, and listed companies—to implement these changes without delay. The future of European finance depends on taking bold action now.

Άρθρο του Αθανάσιου Στ. Κουλορίδα, Προέδρου της Διοικούσας Επιτροπής της Ένωσης Εισηγμένων Εταιριών για την ψηφιακή έκδοση του 27th Capital Link Invest in Greece Forum