AS EXPECTED The CNVM passes the buck to the Ministry of Finance

• The Ministry shrugs its shoulders

• MAKE: "The intention of the CNVM makes no sense"

The Romanian National Securities Commission has abided by its decision concerning the restructuring of the Rasdaq market, a problem which, as Carmen Negoiţă, the president of the Commission, said at the end of 2012, could no longer be left undealt with.

The solution found by the CNVM and announced yesterday was to resort to the Ministry of Public Finances, to initiate a legislative project for the restructuring of the Rasdaq, a market which has been treated like a regulated market, even though the segment does not fall under this category, according to the European regulations.

In other words, the CNVM has decided that... it should be the Ministry of Finances and the Parliament that should decide.

Thus, the CNVM has "kept" its promise.

The topic of the disbandment of the "Rasdaq" has sparked off heated reactions on the capital market. On one hand, the Association of Stock market Investors has claimed that the Rasdaq is and should be reconfirmed as a regulated market, on the other hand, the Bucharest Stock Exchange has proposed its transformation into an alternative trading system.

With things heating up, the Commission wanted to avoid getting burned at any cost and chose the option which was the best for itself, especially since it is being threatened with the disbandment, with its functions to be taken over by the Unified Financial Oversight Authority.

The arguments will now move into the offices of the Ministry of Finances, if it accepts (or better said, if it falls for) the idea of the Commission.

Sources close to the situation claim that the Ministry of Public Finance is inclined to taken on "the problem".

At the Ministry of Finance, people just shrug.

"I have no knowledge at the moment about this subject", said Enache Jiru, secretary of state in the Ministry of Public Finances, and he was not the only one who was not familiar with the issue.

The CNVM has already tried resorting to the Ministry of Finance for the Rasdaq, when the Ministry was led by Gheorghe Ialomiţianu, but at the time ran up against the opposition of the Ministry of Justice.

It is not out of the question that the situation will repeat itself and the "fight" would continue "à la longue".

• Let there be peace...

In the press release it sent yesterday, the CNVM mentions that the main goal of its proposal is to protect the shareholders of the companies traded on the Rasdaq market.

"The project initiated by the CNVM gives companies traded on the Rasdaq market to choose the market or system operator, and hence the market or the alternative system they will be traded on, following the exercising of the option of the shareholders of these companies", a press release states.

According to the proposed project, the shareholders will have the right to exit the company, under specific situations, at a fair price, so that their legitimate rights will be honored.

The CNVM emphasizes that this legislative project intends to qualify the Rasdaq within the European norms, in compliance with the rights of the shareholders, and without affecting the legitimate interests of the companies.

In response, the Association of Stock Market Investors has asked the Commission to publish the project which it intends to send to the Ministry of Finance.

• MAKE: "The market operator does not have the right to decide for the shareholders, nor does the CNVM, or the Government"

The issue of the "Rasdaq" is tangled enough to spark opinions of the most diverse and contradictory.

Among them, MAKE, the manager of the "BURSA" newspaper, always represents a voice which stands out in the stock market, promoting unique ideas, from the inception of the Romanian stock market and all throughout its evolution, but which have been confirmed throughout.

Since he was in an office just two meters away, I asked him for a statement on this matter.

MAKE told me: "The shareholders' rights are consecrated in the law of the Stock Market and let us not forget that the shareholders are citizens, hence they are governed by the Constitution, meaning that the intention of the CNVM makes no sense; the legislation already gives the shareholders the right of disposal over the property.

According to the law, it is up to the shareholders to decide whether the company is public or not, whether they list it on a specific market and whether it is in their interest to do so. The market operator does not have the right to do so instead of the shareholders, nor does the CNVM, or the Government.

Hence, when the market operator intends to restructure its services, it must ask for the approval of all the listed issuers, and the issuers can make the decision or they can ignore the request, according to the will of their shareholders.

Thus, the restructuring intention has no chance of success, at least theoretically, until it gets the agreement of the last issuer, the operator can not proceed with the restructuring. That is of course, if it has contracts with all of them.

But the rigorous logic of this process, I described earlier, is disturbed by the fact that there aren't even contracts signed with all of the issuers, meaning that we are back to the beginnings of the Rasdaq. The Rasdaq is no different than what it was in the beginning: an illegal market. Of course, considering how things get done in our market, through "decrees from up high", an illegal market can be declared a < regulated market >, without any change being implemented.

To ask the Government to pass a law that would confirm the Constitution or the Law no. 31 is an idea that follows the tradition of the lack of thinking in the community of the capital market".

MAKE felt compelled to specify that he does not claim to be right, like he did on other occasions, just that he has expressed his opinion and "that they can do whatever they want, like they have always done, even though they have been warned!".