Stere Farmache, the chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange yesterday sent a subtle message to the domestic derivatives and stock exchanges, pleading in favor of consolidation of the domestic capital market. This is one of the most important statements by the chairman of the BSE since his new mandate, lending more weight to the rumors that the project of a merger between the BSE and the Sibiu Exchange has been discussed between their respective top managers. This is not the first time the merger was discussed, but the project was postponed after the old Board of the BSE failed to reach a consensus with the people of Sibiu.

The chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange said yesterday, on the occasion of a conference on the opportunities of financing on the capital market, organized by BURSA, in cooperation with the BSE: " If we look at the size of the capital markets in the region, we can see that they are small in terms of capitalization and turnover, and they are also seeing a drop in trading volume due to the economic crisis. This lends weight to the idea of a consolidation of the capital markets in the region, to say nothing of the consolidation of domestic markets, not just on the capital market level, but also for commodities exchanges".

The chairman of the BSE referred at the discussions that have been taking place lately been the management of the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the officials of the OPCOM (which operates the Romanian electricity market) to launch derivatives based on electricity.

"Energy is one of the most important and attractive assets for investors, but it needs very high liquidity for its underlying assets, to allow the electricity derivatives to attract investor interest", Stere Farmache added.

ŞTEFANIA CIOCÎRLAN (Translated by Cosmin Ghidoveanu) Stere Farmache, the chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange yesterday