Mugur Isărescu revient a son premier amour - the BSE

Few people seem to have noticed that the attitude of the NBR's governor towards to the Bucharest Stock Exchange has fluctuated wildly, in the 21 years since Prime Minister Petre Roman issued the Government decision to create the Romanian Stock Exchange, in March 1991.

After Petre Roman was forced to resign by Ion Iliescu, the Governor was the only one to pursue the goals of the Decision issued by the Prime Minister who had fallen out of favor (in a program agreed with the World Bank): he initiated a group that would draft a law of the Stock Exchange, brought together a collective which he trained for the operation on the capital market (whereas the authorities and the politicians had a different set of problems, such as, for instance, not selling our country to foreigners). In 1993 he granted the future Bucharest Stock Exchange a loan of 3 billion lei (which was repaid on time), and starting with 1994, he offered it the ground floor of the NBR (where the BSE was hosted for nine years).

The first General Commissioner of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Costin Donoaica, (the position was eliminated in 2004, when Ionel Oprea left) had been the head of the collective of the NBR specializing in stock market activities, a collective which was "shifted over" to the BSE upon its creation.

Just like the foal hits the mare it's sucking from, the inauguration of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in 1995 (June 23rd, - a formal inauguration, trading only began on November 20th), marked the beginning of a rivalry between the Stock Exchange and the banking market, on the topic of government bonds, which brokers claimed were "assets specific to the capital market" (at the time, government bonds were where the money was at, compared to stock trading, which amounted to no more than peanuts; but, of course, brokers haven't learned anything since then, all they do is complain that they don't have what to trade).

Isărescu sided with the banking system, and opposed having the government bonds traded through the Stock Exchange, until the end of 2008, (and the activity in government bonds after they were listed on the BSE was nothing short of underwhelming...)

But it would seem that there were other reasons why the governor didn't feel much of a kinship with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, even though he is its parent; he most likely was disappointed by the quality of his equity market "peer" (the former president of the Romanian Securities Commission - CNVM - was extremely incompetent, and to top it all off he also ended up in jail); but the naysayers also say, that the real reason was that he didn't like Stere Farmache.

Rumors which are hard to check (I've constantly tried, over the last seven years, to try and verify them, and I haven't been able to have them confirmed, nor denied) claim that the Governor helped the BSE in 2001, on the occasion of the row involving the Romanian Discount Bank, the collapse of which would have caused the Bucharest Stock Exchange to lose a tidy sum, and that the condition which Isărescu posed in exchange for the aid was for Farmache to leave.

A promise which is rumored to have been made by the president of the Exchange at the time, Sergiu Oprescu, but which nevertheless was clearly never honored, even if it was ever actually made.

I do not want to upset anyone, nor Isărescu, nor Oprescu, nor Farmache, nor Doru Nicolaescu - it's a rumor, I can't check it for truth, people are talking and I can't ignore that, even when it concerns friends.

After all, it's likely.

Especially since now, after Stere Farmache was replaced as chairman of the BSE, Mugur Isărescu returns "a son premier amour".

Maybe it's just a coincidence.

Perhaps he likes the new CEO of the BSE who comes from the banking industry.

Who knows?

Perhaps only himself.

The Governor of the NBR works in rather mysterious ways.