All governments over the past 15 years included company listings in their governing programmes and, therefore, I find it difficult to believe that a government fell because it wanted to list companies, Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Remus Vulpescu said on Monday at the 'Investors' Forum - 2026: The Challenges and Opportunities of the Year.'

'If we look at the past 12, 14 or 15 years, listings carried out properly do not erode political capital or electoral capital. The number of investors is indeed over 300,000 active retail investors: committed investors, investors who understand fundamentals and who, so far, have ensured the success of all public offerings carried out, whether primary or secondary, within their share. We are indeed talking about 8.5 million Romanians who have contributed and continue to contribute, of whom around 6.5 million contribute to Pillar II. I would also look at Pillar III, which is beginning to develop and gain critical mass. So, first of all, we are talking about the sale of shares to an investment public that is predominantly Romanian, predominantly national and domestic. Second, if a government has fallen, I find it difficult to believe that it fell because it wanted to list companies. All governments over the past 15 years included company listings in their governing programmes. Therefore, speaking at government level about listing companies is perceived as a positive thing. If all governments included company listings in their governing programmes, there are certainly surveys showing that the Romanian public, voters who are also investors, at least some of them, also view company listings favourably. What I would also like to point out is that we hope to have many more retail investors,' Vulpescu explained.

He also mentioned that the entry of the local capital market into MSCI Emerging Markets - the international benchmark stock market index measuring the performance of shares in emerging economies - must be carried out properly and without haste.

'At some point, we will enter MSCI Emerging Markets as a capital market. Indeed, inclusion in MSCI Emerging Markets ensures automatic allocations because there are funds that track the MSCI Emerging Markets index from a total pool that currently probably exceeds 1.5 trillion dollars. So we are talking about a great deal of money, of which only a relatively small share would need to come to Romania in order to have an impact and which would probably come. What we must avoid, however, is rushing into it, because what is not done properly does not last. There are several examples of countries that entered and later exited, while the cost of exiting was far greater than all the benefits of entering. This can be verified, there are plenty of studies published on the matter. Things need to be done properly,' the BVB Chief Executive Officer said.

Bursa newspaper organised on Monday the fifth edition of the event titled 'Investors' Forum - 2026: The Challenges and Opportunities of the Year' attended by representatives of the authorities alongside members of the business community. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Badea; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)