Earlier this month I visited Warsaw to moderate a panel at the FOW Derivatives World CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) conference. As ever it was a pleasure to be in Poland but this time it was particularly interesting given recent developments in Polish and other CEE markets.

The conference literature said that it returned to "to Poland for the fourth year to examine, in partnership with the Warsaw Stock Exchange, how the derivatives market in Central Eastern Europe is developing" but in truth it didn't require a lot of examination to receive the strong messages of regional growth and international investment.

In September, for the first time, remote, i.e. non-domestic, members of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) outnumbered domestic members. There are 29 domestic members but remote members now total 31 and come from 13 different countries across Europe.

There is a virtuous circle now established in Poland whereby greater equities volumes are attracting more volumes in derivatives (futures and options) that are in turn attracting increased membership of the stock exchange and even greater volumes.

The pump primer for the equities volumes, causing the rush of overseas investors to Poland, has been the amount of initial public offerings (IPOs). These have been led by the Polish government's programme of privatization - over the last few years the government has followed a policy of disbursement of previously government-owned enterprises en route to transforming the country from what was, little more that 20 years ago, a state-controlled economy, But recently private firms have also enthusiastically participated in the IPO boom - by the end of Q3 the WSE had overseen the largest number of IPOs in the nation's history and, just as remarkable, this put Poland in the top half-a-dozen markets in the world in terms of IPOs for 2011 Q3 (just behind the NYSE and raising twice as much issuance capital as the LSE.)

But it is no longer solely about IPO volumes: the WSE was responsible for 76% of all securities volumes on CEE exchanges with derivatives trading being of particular note - the WSE saw a 41% increase in options volumes in the year to October.

The Derivatives World conference was an excellent event - it was refreshing to be in such a dynamic, positive environment when there is often so much doom and gloom elsewhere. The delegates appeared unanimous in agreeing that the boomtime will continue.

The exchange is moving forward on several fronts: not only is there an emphasis on derivatives product development but the exchange also finances an extensive educational programme. And, of course, the WSE will shortly move to NYSE Euronext's UTP platform which will enable co-location facilities and attract even more new participants, both brokers and investors, to the region's most liquid exchange.

Phillippe Carré is global head of connectivity at Sungard