Dan Dascăl, CEO of BT Asset Management, was a guest on “By the Numbers”, produced by Termene.ro. You can watch the full conversation here, and below are a few takeaways from the interview:

On BT Asset Management’s performance

• The equity funds managed by BT Asset Management doubled in value in 2025.
  
  
• For many years now, assets under management at BT Asset Management have been on an upward trajectory, and the market continues to show significant potential, given that the combined assets of investment funds in Romania are still low relative to GDP and to household deposits compared with other countries.
  
  
• The results we have achieved would not have been possible without our sustained investment in developing digital solutions. Our investment funds are available directly in Banca Transilvania’s BT Pay app, and any user of the app has immediate access to these funds in a simple, user-friendly way.
  
  
• Today, over 90-95% of the activity in our funds — thousands of transactions every day — is carried out digitally.
  
  

On risks and opportunities in the investment market and in the economy

• One group that had a tougher time than we did last year was entrepreneurs. They will probably face higher risks this year as well. We see consumption down, taxes up, and VAT higher. They may need to pay much closer attention this year and face greater risks than those we face.
  
  
• From an investment standpoint, I have no reason to be pessimistic this year, in Romania or in the region. In the end, I do not see a major event that would negatively influence market performance. Of course, it would not be realistic to expect the same growth rates as last year, but I do not see reasons for a decline.
  
  
• We will probably continue to see volatility in markets, but over a sufficiently long horizon, markets absorb it. Looking back at just the past five years, we have had a pandemic, a war on our border, a trade war, periods of volatility — and even so, returns have been double- or triple-digit.
  
  
• For Romania’s economy, access to EU funds is an important opportunity we should leverage. Another is Romania’s potential in energy resources. It is an advantage we already have, and the trend is encouraging.
  
  
• From an investment perspective, I believe opportunities will continue. There are sectors with room to grow. Looking at Europe, the auto sector has underperformed in recent years and may have upside. The pharmaceutical and chemical sectors also have potential to appreciate. We can identify opportunities in food & beverage as well, and in other segments that may not have been in the spotlight — unlike technology — but remain essential to the functioning of economies.