On Tuesday, November 18, the Bucharest Stock Exchange held the second day of events marking its 30th anniversary. The day revolved around brokers, both veterans and young, promising ones, who shared their experiences and market analyses.

Overall, the brokers agreed that if the early days of the BVB were marked by practical challenges and optimism, today, the local market battles for liquidity and more investors. 

The event was opened by BVB general director Remus Vulpescu, who stressed the importance of brokers as intermediaries and market-makers. “You are the brokers who made the stock market. Brokers know what products are the best, which are needed most, and they, for us, are the essential link to investors,” said the BVB official before giving the floor to two moderated panels. 

The first panel included experienced brokers who defined the first 30 years of the Bucharest Stock Market, such as Adrian Simionescu (SAI Muntenia Invest), Valerian Ionescu (Product Management BCR), Lucian Isac (Estinvest), and Nicu Moroianu (former broker, now vice-dean of the Faculty of Economy and Business Communication, ASE Bucharest).

The early days of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, back in the 1990s, were marked by optimism. Romania’s first brokers navigated radical political shifts, learned on the job, benefited from contacts with Western European businesses and investors or organizations, and laid the first bricks for today’s stock market. “It was very important that we could offer investors products other than equities, and the same is key today,” said Adrian Simionescu. 

Trading with other people’s money had to be learned, given Romania’s post-communist past, added Valerian Ionescu. The broker community was small, and their offices were equally minuscule. Even the costs of fax messaging weighed heavily on the nascent brokers, and sellers were few, but enthusiasm kept them going. 

“The most important moment in the development of the BVB was the decision to construct, in-house, a trading and clearing system. This gave us the ability to tackle certain projects that I hope we will see again,” said Lucian Isac. He remembered that trading on the BVB first functioned on a Canadian license. Other major moments for the development of the BVB were Franklin Templeton’s administration of Fondul Proprietatea and the emergence of the Pillar II pension scheme. 

“Luckily, our stock market offers exactly what is popular right now, finance and energy. We do not know what the future holds when it comes to stock prices, but we have the chance to tell Romanians that recurrent investments on BVB can safeguard their future,” he said.

The second panel featured up-and-coming brokers or prime movers of today, such as Elena Uleia (Prime Transaction), Ovidiu Dumitrescu (BRK Financial Group), Marius Stoica (BRD Groupe Societe Generale), Alexandru Dobre (Tradeville), and Antonio Oroian (Goldring).

The brokers converged on the issue of liquidity, the lack of which impacts BVB today. At the macro level, brokers offer stability through liquidity, according to Alexandru Dobre. “We badly need liquidity at the BVB, even with all the spectacular increases. This can come from clients, consultancy given to new listings, and so on,” he added.

BRD’s Marius Stoica echoed the statement, saying that higher liquidity can be brought about by “more stock issuers, more free float, more financial products, more investors.” Some investors do not want to pick individual stocks, but want an administered account or an exchange-traded fund, according to him.

“Let’s hope we will have securities lending, short selling, and reach the status of an emerging market. At that moment, liquidity will double, triple, or quadruple, if the experience of neighboring countries holds true here as well,” Stoica added.

AI and digitalization will mark the future of the BVB, according to the brokers, allowing for simplified investment and increased accessibility.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Bursa de Valori Bucuresti on Facebook)