Radu Miruta
The launch of the stock exchange is planned for the summer of 2026. The new stock exchange will be organized in the form of a joint stock company with Romanian partners. The initial authorized capital of the stock exchange will amount to 3 million euros, invested in two equal tranches, with the participation of the Government of Moldova, the Bucharest Stock Exchange and financial institutions and companies – MAIB, Donaris Vienna Insurance Group, OTP Bank, Moldindconbank, MK Kapital, Moldcell, which signed a partnership agreement. Organizational arrangements for the creation of the joint venture, determination of shares of participation, in which the Romanian side invests with its infrastructure and technologies, are ahead.
The initiative to attract an alternative player acquired a political tinge a few years ago, moving from a purely sectoral topic to the issue of the state’s ability to have a capital market as such. Negotiations with the Romanian side and ways of cooperation lasted for more than a year. Although the thoughts of doing things on our own, making the right decisions, are still heard today. The adopted program document of capital market development was elevated to the state level, becoming another challenge in the ideological dispute between supporters and opponents of the authentic scenario of further economic development.
Chairman of the National Commission for Financial Market Dumitru Budianschi emphasized that “the new stock exchange will serve as a gateway for integration into regional and international markets”. And he reminded about the National Strategy of Capital Market Development for the period of 2025-2030, which details the ways of “reshaping” the market, its participants and the financial architecture of the economy as a whole.
As the author of the document, the head of NCFM has no doubts about success, realizing what a lot of “homework” has to be done for this purpose. Opportunities and advanced technologies should also be used. The Romanian side will provide support, but the ball is on the side of local players. Bucharest officials involved in the deal, as well as the head of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, are speaking in this spirit.
Radu Miruta, Romanian Minister of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism: “The launch of the Chisinau Stock Exchange means trust, transparency and a concrete step towards Moldova’s economic integration into the EU. We are happy to be partners and to provide 30 years of Romanian capital market experience to make this path irreversible. The new exchange will provide access to a wide range of financial instruments: equities, bonds, government and corporate securities, and will utilize state-of-the-art technology, including the Arena Trading platform.”
The desire of the Moldovan authorities to “shake up” the capital market is understandable. According to Trading Economics, in the first quarter of 2025 Moldova faced a record deficit of current account and financial account, which amounted to $888.33 million. This figure reflects the capital outflow from the country during this period. The deficit is significant for the economy and may indicate capital flight or insufficient capital inflows into the country despite external assistance.
The panacea could have been enthusiastic trading in the securities market. But it is not there either – the secondary capital market in the first half of 2025 registers a 22.43% decrease in the volume of transactions, according to the NCFM, with a total volume of 812.38 million lei. Priority was given to the OTC sector, which accounted for 76.3% of the total volume and 95.1% of the total number of secondary market transactions.
Although the volume of the regulated market surpasses the MTF platform, the volume of transactions on the regulated market decreased by 22%, while the volume of transactions on the MTF platform increased 22 times (8.19 million lei vs. 0.37 million lei). At the same time, the share of 73% of the Stock Exchange came from the transaction registered with Moldasig S.A. shares for the amount of over 137 million lei.
The evaluation in terms of demand prevailing on the regulated market shows that the banking sector continues to be the most attractive and representative in terms of liquidity on the market. Therefore, the first place in the ranking of the most liquid companies whose shares were traded on the regulated market, in terms of trading volume, is occupied by maib (18 transactions worth over 39 million lei). It is followed by FinComBank (14 deals worth 4 million lei) and Victoriabank (22 deals worth 2 million lei).
“The Moldovan capital market has a growth potential, but the country does not need two stock exchanges,” said Andrian Iastremski, chairman of the Stock Exchange of Moldova. According to him, the decision on the further fate of the stock exchange will have to be made by the shareholders of the enterprise, whose founders in the mid-90s became 34 participants of the securities market: “I do not exclude that for some time we will work in parallel. Everything depends on issuers and other market players, the profitability of the Moldovan stock exchange in competition with another operator”.
If one considers that with the arrival of a new operator the fate of the capital market old-timer is predetermined, the joint venture to be created will not soon “stand on its feet”. We need trained brokers, who possess modern technologies and know how to attract local and foreign players, says Vladimir Rusnak, vice-chairman of the NCFM.
“Now a good impetus for the development of the capital market has been given. But further everything will depend on us. The new operator provides tools and experience, which we will have to use,” says Vladimir Rusnak. – To become profitable, the new stock exchange will need at least 3-5 years. And the access to European platforms will depend on the attractiveness of Moldovan securities, which can be ensured only by effective investment projects, volumes of capital investments and security of investment activity”.
Negotiations on the format of the Bucharest Stock Exchange have been going on since 2022. The control over the Single Depository, which the Romanian side insisted on, remained a controversial point for a long time. In particular, there was a question of connecting the Single Central Depository of Moldova to the Romanian infrastructure. The authorities also agreed on the possibility of dual listing of Moldovan companies on the Moldovan and foreign stock exchanges, on mechanisms for trading in shares and other financial instruments.
It is not yet said how the “trades” ended, but the Moldovan side agreed on its share in the new Chisinau Stock Exchange.
In 2024, the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) showed a significant growth in trading volumes, reaching 3.5 billion lei, and the number of subscription orders exceeded a historical high of 44,169 orders. The exchange registered more than 5,000 purchase orders placed by investors and placed 5,726 orders totaling 537 million lei at an annual interest rate of 7.95%.
