For more than a week now, Valentin Ionescu, the general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange and president of the Central Depository has been in a situation of incompatibility between the positions he is holding, according to a decision of the Romanian National Securities Commission (CNVM) which prohibits the members of the Board of Directors and the managers of a market operator from concurrently serving on the Board of Directors or as managers of a Central Depository.

Valentin Ionescu had until May 31st to opt for one of the two positions, but he has yet to announce his decision, in spite of all the official and unofficial messages that the Romanian National Securities Commission gave him telling him that he should resign either from the Stock Exchange or from the Depository.

Mr. Ionescu said yesterday that he is waiting for a clarification from the Romanian National Securities Commission, following which he will make a decision. There are rumors in the market that the officials of the BSE have asked the Commission to extend the deadline by which Valentin Ionescu was supposed to opt for one of the positions that he holds.

"I am waiting for a clarification from the Romanian National Securities Commission myself, and after that, I will make a decision", Valentin Ionescu said yesterday, and he added: "The Exchange has to have one of its own men on the Board of the Depository. It is true that the members of the Depository are elected by the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Exchange, but at this moment, of the employees of the BSE, I am the only one serving on the management of the Depository".

The officials of the Bucharest Stock Exchange have constantly insisted that they need to send an official on the management of the Central Depository, since the BSE is the majority shareholder of the clearing and settlement house, with a stake o