Karoll Capital hosts regional conference with the Bucharest Stock Exchange

On November 3rd, 2015 Karoll Financial Group hosted a conference organized together with the Romanian Stock Exchange entitled “Bucharest Stock Exchange – wide transformation and investment opportunities”.  The outlook and challenges facing the regional markets were discussed by the participants, including regulators, institutional investors, brokers and asset managers.

The CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Mr. Ludwik Sobolewski (previously Head of the Warsaw Stock Exchange), presented an overview of the major regional markets:  Poland stands out with its high trading volumes, as such it is on the path of obtaining a developed market status. The Czech and Hungarian markets have significant market capitalization but the top 5 companies generate more than 90% of daily trading volume. Nevertheless Hungary impresses with its ability to attract international investors. 

Regarding Romania, Mr. Sobolewski outlined the main aspects of the deep reform that the market has been undergoing in the past couple of years – various initiatives by the stock exchange along with other market participants aimed at increasing the financial culture of households and stimulating people to invest. The strategy of the management is to transform Romania from a frontier to an emerging market as soon as possible.

Lack of trust, low level of corporate governance and weak analytical coverage are among the common problems for the region. Some of these challenges can be overcome through joint initiatives of the regional stock exchanges such as promotion of a given IPO across the neighboring markets.

Marcin Wojcicki, manager at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, presented the development of AeRo - a segment for start-ups and young companies, launched in February, with lighter listing and information disclosure requirements.

The senior economist of Banca Transilvania Andrei Radulescu delivered a very informative summary on the improving outlook of the Romanian economy.