Valentin Ionescu, the managing director of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), considers that the state, through the AVAS, could intervene in order to get BCR listed on the Stock Exchange, which is something that he would like to happen.

Mr. Ionescu considers that the authorities should check whether the terms of the privatization contract of the BCR have been met and then act accordingly.

The listing of BCR is stipulated in the contract for the privatization of the bank, of 2006, which sets a deadline of three years starting from the moment of its signing, for the privatization of the bank. However, in 2009, Erste and the SIFs signed an Agreement by which they decided to postpone the listing by two more years, by inserting several conditions, some of which were pretty ambiguous, and which were not present in the initial contract. As a result, the listing of BCR currently seems rather uncertain.

The general manager of the BSE, one of the institutions which would be affected if BCR wasn"t listed, made the following statement for BURSA:

"The government could have a potential influence in the listing of BCR. Through the AVAS, it has the obligation to follow up on the contract for the privatization of BCR to check whether it was complied with. This is the main problem that I see here, there is no intervention from the authorities.

I want to have BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, it would be beneficial for the banking sector, and for the BSE".

However, the director of the BSE is not the only one who considers that the state could have a say on the listing of BCR. In a recent interview for BURSA, lawyer Gheorghe Piperea said that the AVAS has the right to demand the listing of BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, as per the contract concluded with "Erste". The Association of Investors on the Capital Market (AIPC) also issued a commun