The chairman and main stakeholder in IEBA Trust brokerage firm, Panayiotis Diamandis, a finance professor, plans to expand the activities of the company he controls in Romania by introducing trading services on foreign capital markets, especially in Greece.

The Greek businessman, who owns around 80% in IEBA Trust, does not control any brokerage in Greece and intends to provide trading services on this market through other brokers operating on the Greek capital market.

"Our plans include the development of our company domestically; we want to provide services on international markets, at first in Greece, but also on the other markets of Europe and the US," says Diamandis.

He has Romanian roots, and has been in Romania for 13 years, initially operating in the consulting services domain. He says he has brought over 200 million euros in investments in Romania and further banks on the development of the Romanian financial services market.

"There are many Romanian investors that started seeking opportunities on foreign markets and this is why we want to offer trading services on foreign markets," says IEBA Trust chairman.

Trading on the other foreign markets except Greece would be done through brokers on those markets, too.

Diamandis believes there will be only 20 brokerages left on the Romanian market in 2-3 years, from the current 80, but competition among them will become fiercer, which would also translate into lower fees. This is why Diamandis is trying to strengthen the position of the company he controls.

"We're interested in acquiring smaller brokerages both for expanding our market share and for increasing our participation on the BSE," says Diamandis.

He plans to reach a 2% market share in two years, three times bigger than the current one. IEBA Trust ranked 32nd among brokers on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, with t