Romanian BCR's clients spend EUR 100 mln on international stock markets

Romanian lender BCR brokered over EUR 100 million of stock exchange investments on behalf of its clients on international markets in 2012. BCR reported that 600 clients invested on international stocks last year, in a total of 3,500 transactions. “If in previous years the volumes traded on international markets were mainly comprised of share deals, in 2012 our clients chose other financial instruments, such as bonus certificates and bonus reverse, index certificates and ETFs. For this year we plan to continue to diversify the list of products to offer our clients, including by listing new structured products on the Bucharest Stock Exchange,” said Laura Hexan, head of the retail treasury products division with BCR. BCR clients' favorite investment target was the Vienna Stock Exchange, with a EUR 70 million transaction volume, followed by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. BCR offers online access to investments on 30 international stock markets. Meanwhile, the volume of investments on the Bucharest Stock Exchange – BVB – was of EUR 1.6 billion at the end of 2012. BCR is the largest lender in Romania by assets. The group's total assets declined by 0.5 percent, to some EUR 16.8 billion, but still cover some 20 percent of the Romanian banking market. editor@romania-insider.com (photo: Vienna Stock Exchange)