Within the fifth edition of the ZF Capital Market Summit conference, organized by Financial Newspaper, Grupul Financiar Banca Transilvania had three representatives at the event.

The growth prospects of the BET index have been analyzed by Aurel Bernat, Executive Director Financial Institutions & Investor Relations, Transilvania Bank. The Fidelis government bonds and the profile of investors supporting the financing of the Romanian state have been scrutinized by Daniela Secară, CEO BT Partners, în timp ce Dan Dascăl, CEO BT Asset Management, offered us a broader perspective on the markets.

Aurel Bernat

Executive Director Financial Institutions & Investor Relations, Banca Transilvania

• If we look at the local market, I would say it is attractive. Looking at the region, we are somewhere at a P/E multiple of 9 and, compared to the Czech Republic and other countries in our area, we are talking about double-digit values. From this point of view, the market in Romania is attractive, especially since it has a characteristic exposure to the banking sector — which, if the country goes in a good direction, is the best possible investment proxy — and to the energy and utilities area. Very briefly, looking at Romania, if we manage to have predictable political behavior and a country brand, from the perspective of listed companies and the public discourse towards international institutional investors, we have a clear chance of future development.
  
  
• For years we have talked about investments and investors, but we talked from institution to institution. We see, at the global level, that the recurrent individual investor is truly beginning to show their value, because those who invest recurrently also provide investment ammunition for institutional investors, such as investment funds. Today, if we look at the local market, investment funds are a competitor to pension funds, which traditionally bought. We have two types of investors: some of them have allocated money behind them, and others have money transferred through the trust of the small retail investor in these placements.
  
  
• In the last six years we have had every possible perspective of irrationality — from Covid to wars. Nevertheless, the market seems to have held up very well. Probably because it is the most liquid. There is this confidence that we are no longer in the scenario Too big to fail, ci Very big to succeed. The better positioned you are in the market, the more market share you manage to capture, more long-term stability, and then investors also have confidence.
  
  
• We are both investor, issuer, and intermediary. We believe in the capital market and have believed since the moment of listing. We can offer some of our best practices on issuer relations to other smaller players who want to list or issue bonds.
  
  
• In the pensions and investment funds area, we see an extremely high adoption, especially due to electronic systems — that "one click away" is necessary for retail clients, and this is measured in hundreds of thousands of clients annually.
  
  
• The greatest risk is the risk of not having courage. The second would be the risk of not speaking well of our country. Exactly at this moment, when the Middle East has problems, it is easiest to bring investors, because we become an oasis of calm in Eastern Europe. If we have solved the first two, then what remains are the global geopolitical context and internal stability. But, most importantly, let's not forget the first rule: to be brave.

Daniela Secară

CEO BT Capital Partners

• Many times, Fidelis is the first interaction with the capital market for many investors, but gradually, we observe that approximately 10% of Fidelis investors also look at and invest, perhaps in ETFs, perhaps in public offerings.
  
  
• A gratifying thing I have noticed in recent years is that, from the Fidelis investors, we also see a conversion towards the stock market, which is gradually growing. We do not see them investing in risky stocks.
  
  
• The largest percentage of Fidelis investors is represented by people over 50 years old, the next segment being between 45 and 50 years old. We do indeed see the other age segments growing as well, but quite limited.
  
  
• It depends a lot on the evolution of the markets, but young people mainly focus on trading on international markets. These are names they hear. These are products they use, and many investment decisions come from the desire to buy shares of companies or products they use.
• After all, investing in Fidelis can represent for young people a part of the money to be allocated, that is, a percentage of the portfolio to be invested in a very low-risk asset.
  
  
• We have to take into account that we started Fidelis with 2 broadcasts, then we reached 4–6 broadcasts per year and now we have Fidelis every month. Whether investors are tired or not, we will see at the end of the year, when the attracted amounts will be available.

Dan Dascăl

CEO BT Asset Management

• Pension funds have consistent inflows every month and therefore need places to invest their capital, this is another solid reason for more and more companies to go public.
  
  
• And we, the investment fund industry in Romania, also have more and more inflows into local equity funds. It is very simple nowadays to invest in an equity fund and of course we want to have as many possibilities as possible to diversify these investments.
  
  
• In order to have as many companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange as possible, first of all we are talking about a combination of factors (1) interest from issuers, (2) brokers' availability to explain to companies the advantages of listing, and (3) authorities' desire to list state-owned companies.
  
  
• In recent years we have been witnessing behavioral changes from investors, not only from Romania, but also from around the world. The role that retail investors have, through their cumulative investments, in the evolution of stock exchanges, both directly and indirectly, has started to weigh very heavily.
  
  
• The economic decline was also due to the decrease in consumption, which in essence is not such a bad thing, as the economic balance of Romania has been rebalanced, which is beneficial for the evolution of government bond prices.
  
  
• By nature, I am an optimistic person, and after all, our industry is based on optimism. The entire financial system relies on trust from investors. People transfer their money to us to manage it because they trust us. Although there have been three periods of major volatility in Romania in recent years, the overall return on investments in the stock markets is very good. And even if such periods occur, ultimately the growth context of the economies will remain upward.