Linking London and Bucharest Stock Exchanges

This week the Bucharest Stock Exchange established a partnership with the largest financial market in the world – the London Stock Exchange.

When the UK’s Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green met the Foreign Investors Council in Bucharest earlier this month, one of the participants, Adrian Rosca of Chemco, made the far-sighted proposal that Romania should establish a ‘City of London’ in Bucharest – a hub to draw on UK excellence in financial services and raise capital for investments across the Balkan region.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange is still small. It got a big boost with the listing of Fondul Proprietate last year. Its further success will depend on the Romanian Government’s programme to bring major state companies to the market.

I hope that today’s agreement will brings Adrian’s vision a little closer to reality. The decision by both exchanges to co-host an investors’ forum in the autumn to advertise the opportunities in Romania is a very good start.