Think tank for the capital market

Representatives of the National Securities Commission (CNVM), the Financial Investment Companies (SIFs) and the National Bank of Romania (NBR), together with senators of the Budget-Finance-Banks Commission, are working on a draft law, which should change the entire legislation on the functioning of capital markets.

The think tank will wrap up the legislative package by September 15 and the Budget-Finance-Banks Commission will submit it to Parliament for debate by October 1.

The four laws, comprised in the above-mentioned package that will change or cancel the entire legislation in this field, are the law on CNVM functioning, drafted after the model of BNR statute, the securities law, the stock exchange and the mutual funds law.

The senators from this commission and the CNVM representatives met in order to inform each other on the stage of drafting the four projects. Four separate sub-commissions have been working on these drafts during the summer. National Liberal Party (PNL) senator Dan Constantinescu, a commission member, says that debates will end soon, as the commission worked two days a week during the holiday on drafting the projects.

However, he added, there are some issues to be discussed, especially those regarding the functioning of the financial investment companies (SIFs). The financial investment companies, which have a large number of shareholders, usually have “divergent interests,” which should be harmonised within the future legislation.

Greater Romania Party (PRM) senator Vasile Horga says that, on the contrary, things are more complicated, as CNVM and SIF representatives “have seldom met with the commissions and now, after the senators have concluded the drafts, they have plenty of claims.”

Commission members have decided that emergency ordinance 64/2000, enabling the Government to dismiss CNVM members “under exceptional circumstances,” and emergency ordinance 229/2000, regulating the situation of minority shareholders, should be cancelled.

Both ordinances, which changed law 52/1994 on securities and the stock exchange, aimed to “soothe” the capital market after the former National Fund of Investments (FNI) collapsed. Nastase-led Government says that these laws failed to achieve their goal and asked that they should be cancelled.

The chairman of the Senate’s Budget-Finance Commission, Social Democrat Party senator Viorel atefan, says that the stipulations of ordinance 229 will be included in a separate chapter within the new CNVM law.

CNVM on Tuesday posted the draft of the new law on securities, financial investment services and the regulated markets on its own Internet site.