Paris (AFP)
The Paris Bourse will for the first time in its history, from March 15, be headed by a woman, Delphine d'Amarzit, a specialist in capital markets.
"Delphine d'Amarzit has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Euronext Paris and member of the Euronext management board" from March 15, 2021, announced Monday the stock market operator Euronext which oversees six European stock exchanges (Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Olso), in a press release.
At the age of 47, she will become the first woman in stock market history to lead the Parisian market at a time when feminization is progressing at a rapid pace in all levels of the financial sector.
Having become one of the main market operators in continental Europe, Euronext already has two women at the head of the Amsterdam (Simone Huis in 't Veld) and Lisbon (Isabel Ucha) stock exchanges.
It employs 32% of women (excluding Borsa Italiana).
Its British competitor, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), also announced last month the appointment of a woman, Julia Hoggett, to head the London Stock Exchange.
Deputy Managing Director at Orange Bank, a banking subsidiary of the telecoms operator Orange, Delphine d'Amarzit has "an in-depth knowledge of the capital markets in Europe and France", underlines Euronext.
At around 11:15 am, Euronext shares gained 1.03% to 93.50 euros in a market that fell 0.22%.
A graduate of the ENA, Ms. d'Amarzit assumed various responsibilities in the senior civil service, first as Inspector General of Finance, then in the Treasury Department.
In the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis, in her role as financial advisor to the office of Prime Minister François Fillon (2007-2009), "she notably participated in defining the public response to the financial crisis (... ) ", underlines the press release.
- New dimension -
Ms. d'Amarzit says she is joining the group at "a pivotal moment" in its growth strategy, the first pan-European financial center having grown even further since the effective takeover of the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2019 as it prepares to finalize that of the Milan Stock Exchange in the first half of this year.
She will succeed Anthony Attia, appointed at the same time director of primary markets and "post-market" (editor's note: activities beyond securities negotiations), an area of further development with the upcoming integration of the transalpine structure.
Mr. Attia has held the reins of Euronext Paris - i.e. the French securities and derivatives market but also one of the group's technological centers - since 2014, when his parent company regained its independence after several years spent in the bosom of American groups.
"Euronext is opening a new chapter in its growth adventure with the planned acquisition of Borsa Italiana, and the success of its recent expansion in terms of geography and activities", underlines the group's boss, Stéphane Boujnah, quoted in the press release.
Consequently, he explains, "Euronext must adjust its organization to meet its ambition to build the first pan-European market infrastructure (...)".
Since its creation 20 years ago, Euronext has welcomed independent stock exchanges in Europe into its federal model and brought together in its executive board the heads of these different local markets.
For the time being, France is the biggest contributor to the group's turnover, but it would be supplanted by Italy following the merger of Euronext with Borsa Italia.
The context of this sizeable transaction (4.33 billion euros) is a bit special since the sale of the Italian Stock Exchange by the British operator LSE was a prerequisite for its takeover of the American financial data group Refinitiv.
LSE having obtained the green light from European antitrust on Wednesday, the completion of the acquisition of the Italian Stock Exchange by Euronext therefore appears very likely.
Euronext will emerge radically different from this takeover since around a quarter of the shares traded in Europe will then be traded on the group's platforms.
The operator, which has also diversified a lot over the past three to four years around the supply of data and services to financial players, is in solid health.
Its market capitalization has quadrupled in six years and now exceeds 6 billion euros.
© 2021 AFP