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The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) reported 5,000 new investors in the last quarter of this year alone, an increase by 8%, BVB CEO Adrian Tanase said on Wednesday at an online debate, noting that there is currently a positive context "on all fronts" on the stock market.
"There is a context on the stock market, and the context is a positive one on all fronts, we have a very good performance registered in the last year and year to date: almost 20% of the BET index and 40% year on year. We have witnessed an increase in the number of investors with direct investments on the stock exchange, we have witnessed five consecutive quarters of growth. In the last quarter, there was at least an 8% increase in the number of investors, so we have 5,000 new investors in the last quarter alone. We have exceeded 70,000 investors, and last year the increase in the number of investors was almost 30%. Given the context, we are interested in seeing if these developments also reflect on the asset management industry," Tanase told a debate with investment fund managers.
Chairman of the Association of Romanian Fund Managers (AAF) Horia Gusta pointed out that the returns made by investment funds in Romanian shares are about 37% in the last 12 months, an excellent figure that was obtained in a favorable context.
"I want to congratulate you especially on the performance you generate for investors, and thanks to you the industry is growing. Today, we are talking with figures on the table that show returns on investment of approximately 37% reported by Romanian equity investment funds in the last 12 months, which is excellent. We are certainly in a favorable context (...) That counts, but also do the efforts that the association has been making lately under its 'Save smart!' project in an attempt to develop, to explain in detail what makes a fund, what strategy an educational project has, and the results are noticeable," said Gusta.
In his opinion, the results are quantified in an increase in the number of investors but also in almost all types of funds.
"We are approaching 400,000 investors in open-end investment funds in industry, a record figure. We see increases on almost all levels by types of funds, but even more gratifying, we see an increase in the number of investors in equity funds, which is very well in this favourable context," he added.
According to the latest report published by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), among the European countries with the largest investments in the asset management industry are France, Germany and the United Kingdom, with values between 1.8 and 2.5 trillion euro, with Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria lagging behind.
In Romania, at the end of 2020, the level of assets in the asset management industry stood at 9.1 billion euros, including foreign funds sold locally.
By AAF reckoning, the average investment in Romania is 450 euros per person (relative to the country's population), lower than in other countries such as Greece, where the average holding is 896 euros/person, the Czech Republic with 1,403 euros average investment/person, and Poland with 1,660 euros average investment person.
