Bonds issuers in the region are far healthier than those in Western Europe, says Dan Popovici, investment director of OTP Asset Management. The bond funds managed by OTP have exposure to Hungary, Aus-tria, Croatia, Poland and Russia.
However, three quarters of the assets of OTP Euro Bond (ed. note: open fund denominated in Euros) are invested in Romanian bonds.
"In the event of a Greek default, Romania"s bonds denominated in lei will not be affected in any way", said Dan Popovici, yesterday, in a conference.
He said that he expects that by the end of the year or in the beginning of next year, the NBR will cut the policy rate, upon the pressure of the business environment.
As such, placements in securities could bring investors good returns over the medium-long term, the officials of OTP consider.
Lately, they have been focusing on the fixed income instruments market.
In September, OTP Bank was ranked first in terms of the volume of bond trades intermediated on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (ed. note: ranked third after the first nine months), whereas in June, OPT Asset Management converted the diversified investment fund OTP BalansisRO into a bond fund (ed. note: OTP Obligaţiuni).
Last month, OTP Bank intermediated 60 million lei in bond trades on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and 93.7 million for the year.
* Silviu Enache: "We are discussing intermediating bond issues"
Silviu Enache, head of Capital markets at OTP Bank, says involvement of in the bond market stems from investor interest, as they are looking for alternatives, given the volatility in the stock market.
"At this time, it is absolutely necessary to take a long term approach, or else you are going to take on too much risk", he said.
This year, the average daily value of bond trades, on the BSE, fell to 1.9 million lei, as opposed to 10.8
