Investment accounts opened on the Bucharest stock exchange with brokers, banks, and managers, have plummeted to a level similar to the 2008 one, after the number of accounts fell by 2% in the first half of the year, and by 8% against the first half of 2009 to an overall 92,838, according to data provided by the Investors Compensation Fund - an institution in charge of awarding damages to investors if a brokerage goes bankrupt.

Last year 1,700 investors entered the market on lows, whilst during the 2007 highs, the number of new investors was ten times higher, at 22,000. In 2008, the year of the Lehman Brothers collapse, when the stock exchange experienced one of the most severe corrections, the number of investors was 92,865, close to the current number.

"Compared with the number of investors recorded at the end of 2009, there was an around 2% decline, mainly because of a decline in the number of Fund members and because of the current economic context," said Ştefan Chirtu, executive manager of the Investors Compensation Fund.

Investment accounts opened on the Bucharest stock exchange with brokers, banks, and managers, have plummeted to a level similar to the 2008 one, after the number of accounts fell by 2% in the first half of the year, and by 8% against the first half of 2009 to an overall 92,838, according to data provided by the Investors Compensation Fund - an institution in charge of awarding damages to investors if a brokerage goes bankrupt.

Last year 1,700 investors entered the market on lows, whilst during the 2007 highs, the number of new investors was ten times higher, at 22,000. In 2008, the year of the Lehman Brothers collapse, when the stock exchange experienced one of the most severe corrections, the number of investors was 92,865, close to the current number.

"Compared with the number of investors recorded at