SIFs reckon it is time for a change

The heads of the five financial investment companies reckon it is high time for a change after having preferred to preserve historic assets and rely on dividends from banks as their main stream of income for years, with pressure coming also from the rising influence of the shareholders made possible by the long awaited raise of the stake cap from 1 to 5%. What kind of reforms are SIF heads mulling? Share acquisitions between SIFs, the possibility of operating capital increases as well as changes regarding convening and registering the quorum of General Meeting of Shareholders are the main modifications SIF heads are currently negotiating with the capital market arbiter, the National Securities Commission (CNVM). “We must realise the world has changed and we also need to change,” says Ioan Cuzman, chairman of SIF Banat-Crisana (SIF1). Until discussions on raising the stake cap are resumed in the Budget-Finance Committee in several weeks, the heads of the five SIFs are holding talks with the CNVM on the modification of the legislative framework regulating the operation of the SIFs.