The local capital market recorded positive developments in 2024, with the stock market capitalization on the regulated market reaching 350.2 billion RON at the end of last year, up by approximately 19% compared to the level recorded at the end of 2023, according to a report by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).

Most of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) indices recorded positive developments at the end of 2024 compared to the same period of the previous year. The BET benchmark index (which reflects the performance of the most traded companies on the BVB regulated market) rose by 8.78%.

The total value traded on the regulated market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) and on the Multilateral Trading System (SMT) reached 37 billion RON at the end of December 2024, slightly down by 2.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. At the same time, the total number of transactions carried out during 2024 on the BVB – the regulated market and the SMT – amounted to 2.6 million and increased by 32% compared to the level recorded in 2023. Of the total value of transactions, approximately 97.7% were carried out on the regulated market of the BVB, the rest taking place on the SMT.

The value of government securities transactions, as of December 30, 2024, increased compared to the same period in 2023, registering a level of approximately 5.09 billion RON. Shares remain the dominant financial asset class, with a share of almost 47% of the total value
transacted on the BVB until December 30, 2024.

At the end of 2024, the most active brokers on the BVB (regulated market and SMT) were financial investment services companies, the value intermediated by them being approximately 42 billion RON. Local intermediaries (SSIF and credit institutions) achieved approximately 91% of the total intermediated value. Among the intermediaries authorized in other EU member states that carried out transactions on the spot markets, the most active were investment firms, with a market share of 5.65%.

According to the ASF report, SSIFs had in custody, at the end of December 2024, a cumulative value of assets of 41.05 billion RON, representing both client cash and financial securities held by them. The cumulative number of active client accounts of SSIFs at the end of last year was 124,000.

The total value of the assets of collective investment undertakings (CIUs) in Romania as of December 30, 2024 was approximately 44.3 billion RON, an increase of approximately 21.6% compared to the end of 2023. At the end of last year, 16 administrators were operating in Romania, of which 6 were exclusively authorized as investment management companies (IMCs), 2 were exclusively authorized as alternative investment fund administrators (AIFAs), and 8 had dual authorization.

An analysis by category of collective investment undertakings shows that, in 2024, compared to the end of 2023, decreases in total assets for CIUs (-14.27%) and increases in total assets for UCITS (34.27%), SIs (14.74%) and AIFs (13.39%).

As of December 30, 2024, the top three SAIs managed approximately 72.32% of UCITS assets and 65.8% of AIF assets. At the same time, the net assets of the six SIs totaled approximately 15.33 billion RON, up approximately 14% compared to the end of 2023, when a level of 13.4 billion RON was recorded.

AGERPRES