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Starting today, Romanians will be able to invest in fractional shares, which are parts of shares in a company floated on international markets, with the minimum size of an order starting at 10 euros, according to XTB.
"This way, any Romanian, regardless of financial strength, will get access to investments on international stock exchanges. In addition, fractional shares offer investors an opportunity to diversify their portfolios, obtaining an optimal account balance. Through this initiative, Romania becomes the first country in the world where XTB offers clients the possibility of trading in fractional shares," reads an XTB press statement.
In the case of this new product, the market entry threshold for those who want to build a stock investment portfolio is lower. In the case of more expensive stocks, it is now possible to invest in a fraction of them, with the economic gains being the same as in the case of ordinary shares.
Holders of fractional shares are entitled to dividends, but they do not have the right to vote on company policies or decisions. In order to get the right to vote, several parts of a share can be bought until a whole share is collected, which later also offers this right.
"For the XTB group, the Romanian market is an exceptional one. First of all, figures show that 55% of XTB investors in Romania, who trade their funds on the international capital market, buy either individual shares or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Over the past years, interest in the stock market among Romanian investors has grown considerably. Given the circumstances, the decision to introduce fractional shares for the first time in Romania is designed to diversify the options for investors who want increasingly sophisticated portfolios," says Irina Cristescu, general manager of XTB Romania, a global fintech investment company and one of the largest international market brokers in Romania.
Data with XTB show that the average Romanian capital market investor is a 35-year-old man who invests using a computer and owning shares in seven companies. Thus, approximately 73% of trades are performed using the desktop version of the XTB investment platform.
At the same time, Romania is the country with the highest percentage of women accessing the capital market (25%), providing relevant indications regarding the developments in this field.
In 2022, Romanian stock investors were mainly interested in new technologies. XTB statistics show that they preferred the US market, predominantly investments in companies such as Palantir, UiPath and Tesla. These companies have two things in common: they are known to Romanian investors (for example, UiPath has originated in Romania) and they are relatively cheaper, both features that make them look extremely attractive today.
