THE "BURSA" CONFERENCE ON THE CAPITAL MARKET / MAKE, THE PRESIDENT OF THE BURSA PRESS GROUP: "We are going down the wrong path, we need to follow another in order to develop the stock market"

The Romanian stock market has started going off, 25 years ago, in the wrong development direction, and we can currently stop and go another way, Make, the president of the BURSA group said yesterday, in the opening of the eighth "BURSA" conference dedicated to the stock market, which he has moderated.

He said: "This is the eighth conference that we are organizing on the issue of capital markets, but it is outside the string of traditional conferences, because it occurs at a time that is crucial for our stock market. There are a number of transformations on the stock markets, under the influence of the new technology, to which, on one hand, Europe has a diverging reaction, and on the other hand, we haven't crystalized our attitude, as we are too concerned with local problems".

The president of the BURSA press group has added: "We are close to a quarter of a century of «development» of the capital market. With «development» in quotation marks, because it is going in a wrong direction which we have started off towards, in terms of doctrine, 25 years ago, and it seems to me that in this moment, we should wake up and realize that we are going in this wrong direction and that we need to take some steps to really develop the capital market. In today's newspaper (ed. note: yesterday) we have published a detailed report on the capital market. Within, I show that the Romanian market does not serve the capitalization of the issuing companies, it does not serve the national economy through the representativeness of information which they are supplying, and thirdly, it does not attract investors. If on these three segments it does not fulfill its functions, my opinion is that the exchange is almost useless".

According to Make, decentralization and implicitly the move to a polycentric system could lead to improving the effectiveness of investment on the local exchange.

"Blockchain technology is the one that decentralizes the registry, the depositary and facilitates direct trading. Something which messrs. Dan Paul (ed. note: the president of the Association of Brokers) and Adrian Tănase (ed. note: the CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange) can't be too pleased with that since direct trading eliminates brokers and reduces the market for the exchange. But at the same time, it creates a favorable environment to the development of the exchange and brokers. The idea that I am promoting is a turning point in the life of the Romanian stock market which has been running for 25 years after foreign investors and domestic big investors, necessarily big. No, the big ones you only get if the mass of small investors, which you can create at any time by offering the means for direct trading.

The observation of Mr. Dăianu (ed. note: Daniel Dăianu, member on the Board of NBR), that there is a distinction between savers and investors it will supplement with the fact that there is a distinction between a company and an issuer. From a company to an issuer it is a process of transformation and maturing. The changing of a saver to investor is a processing.

They need to be willing to turn their money into investment capital. It is already seen that the exchange cannot do that at this time, and that is already visible. It has been demonstrated for decades. It can't convert the saver into investor and can't convert companies into issuers.

This process needs to be done around the exchange for it to have the raw materials, to have roots into a soil which to draw nourishment from. I think that the blockchain is providing part of the solution.

I am the adept of the direct transactions as creators of investment environment, which would turn savers into investors and companies into issuers", said Make.