Butcher: ASF and BVB practiced commissions make the Romanian stock market one of the most expensive

The stock market in Romania is one of the most expensive in Central and Eastern Europe on account of high commissions enforced by ASF and BVB, according to US Charge d’affaires Duane Butcher.

“Access to Romanian stock market remains difficult. A recent study showed that opening a trading account in Romania can take up to 6 months, while in other CEE countries it only takes a couple of hours”, Butcher said.

The business attache was present at the opening ceremony for Fondul Proprietatea’s third anniversary since going public. The American diplomat took this opportunity to explain why the Romanian stock market is one of the most expensive in the region, because of the commissions practiced by the Bucharest Stock Market and the Authority for Financial Supervision.

Butcher explained that stocks alone cannot drive economic growth and Romania needs private investments and direct foreign investments.

“Investors will think twice before placing their money here since they are concerned that the Government does not seem to pay attention to investor concerns or because officials’ sole priority seems to be funding the public budget, instead of promoting a sustainable growth through legislation and investor incentives”, Butcher went on.

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The Charge d’affaires joked that in Romania, not even “death and taxes” are absolute. He offered the example of the special construction tax which was published in the Official Monitor without any study regarding the impact on budget revenue and on company expenses.

According to Butcher, the new public offers for energy companies and licensing auctions for gas and oil may have a positive impact on the economy but only if handled with responsibility.

“It is still possible that investors’ interest will drop if Romania doesn’t outline its energy strategy following the principle of transparency, if it doesn’t apply the code of corporate governing in an efficient way throughout all the state companies and if it doesn’t enforce impact studies for the changes within the royalty system”, the American diplomat concluded.