THE BSE HAS A CEO THAT HOLDS GRUDGES, NOT TO MENTION OTHER ISSUES Sobolewski has asked for Agalopol to be fired from the Central Depository

The management of the Bucharest Stock Exchange did not accept the request of BSE CEO Ludwik Soboleski to have the CEO of the Central Depository, Cristian Agalopol fired, according to some market sources.

The decision of the Board of Directors came just a few days prior to the General Shareholder Meeting for approving the Balance Sheet of the Central Depository, which had been scheduled for today.

It would seem that for this General Shareholder Meeting, the Board of Directors of the Exchange has given a clear mandate to vote for each item on the agenda.

It remains to be seen whether the managers of the Central Depository will granted a discharge.

Considering that he only asked for the CEO of the Depository to be dismissed, instead of the whole Board, Ludwik Sobolewski seems to have kept a grudge against Cristian Agalopol, after the two disagreed on the change of the software platform used by the Depository.

Some voices have taken the decision of the Board of Directors of the BSE as a positive sign, which shows that Ludwik Sobolewki can't do however he pleases and that his proposals are weighed by the Board of the Exchange, especially after some shareholders questioned his activity in the General Shareholder Meeting.

Furthermore, other people though the request of Sobolewski was pointless, as the term of Cristian Agalopol expires in October, and its sudden termination would harm public perception, that of the BSE included.

In April's General Shareholder Meeting, the shareholders of the BSE have rejected the proposal to acquire a new software platform for the Central Depository, for a price of up to 3.86 million Euros and empowering the Central Depository to select the provider, an item which had been requested by a group of shareholders.

This decision reached the General Shareholder Meeting of the BSE, after the shareholders of the Depository did not reach a decision on the matter, at the end of March, amid a conflict between the CEO of the BSE an the management of the Central Depository.

There was talk in the market that after the Depository conducted the selection for an IT system provider, Ludwik Sobolewski requested the addition of a new provider to the list (Nasdaq OMX).

However, after the entire scandal, the BSE has recommended to the shareholders the development of an "in-house" solution, to allow joining the pane-European "Target 2-Securities" platform, and Ludwik Sobolewski backed that proposal in the General Shareholder Meeting.

Even back then, Sobolewski showed that he harbors a grudge against Agalopol. The executive of the BSE told the officials of the Depository - CEO Cristian Agalopol and the managing director Adriana Tănăsoiu - that they are not wanted as participants in the General Shareholder Meeting of the BSE, where it would have been expected they would attend, in order to discuss their proposal for the infrastructure of the Depository.

As a matter of fact, according to other sources, Sobolewski had recently asked for Adriana Tănăsoiu to be fired as well.