NBR says T-bills may go to BSE

The regulation on the operation of the T-bills market was passed by the National Bank of Romania at the end of last week and is to be endorsed by the National Securities Commission (CNVM).

“I signed the regulation regarding the operation of secondary markets, that is monetary and T-bills ones,” NBR Governor Mugur Isarescu told the general meeting of the Financial Markets Associations at the end of last week.

He says this is a “historical moment” and may probably be deemed as such, considering how hard it was to have a regulated T-bills market in the first place. Mugur Isarescu claims that now “the regulation will help developing the market and diversify the tools and operations on the capital markets in general.”

What is new about this regulation is that securities companies are now allowed on both the primary market (issuers-buyers) and on the secondary market (non-issuer vendors-buyers) of T-bills due in over one year. Another extremely important issue is that those T-bills will be possible to trade on the Stock Exchange. The main requirement for every operator is to meet certain minimal capital criteria.

The regulation draft stipulates a share capital equal to half the minimal capital required to commercial banks, that is 75bn lei for those wanting to operate on the primary market. The conditions for operating on the secondary market are not so strict, as only a quarter of the commercial banks’ share capital, namely 37.5bn lei, is required.

At present, only one brokerage company has the necessary capital to enter the primary T-bills market, but there are enough brokerage companies backed by powerful financial groups, which can come up with the necessary resources to enter this market.