BVB investors had almost a quarter of a million accounts in March

• One in four accounts holds only Fidelis government bonds

Investors on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) had almost a quarter of a million accounts at the end of March, a new historical record, according to the latest report published by the Investor Compensation Fund (FCI).

The data shows the existence of about 246,000 accounts, 28% more than those at the end of March last year and 9% more than the number of accounts in December 2024. In almost a quarter (22.5%) of the total number of accounts there were only Fidelis government bonds, issued by the Ministry of Finance, according to reports.

The FCI divides investors into fully compensable, whose portfolios are below the 20,000 euro ceiling, compensable investors within the ceiling and non-compensable investors. At the end of March, there were around 168,000 fully compensable investor accounts (up 27% from March 2024), while the number of cap-compensable investor accounts was almost 76,500, the highest since December 2010, the oldest data provided by the FCI, according to our analysis.

The average portfolio of a fully compensable investor was, at the end of March, 4,022 euros, down 2% from March 2024, while the average portfolio of a cap-compensable investor was around 184,300 euros.

While the number of accounts was approaching a quarter of a million, the number of active investors is lower. At the end of last year, there were 121,000 active accounts at Financial Investment Services Companies, according to data from the latest report on the evolution of the capital market by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).

An account is considered active if, through it, at least one transaction has been made in the last six months. An investor can simultaneously have accounts opened with several intermediaries.

It should also be noted that the information published by the Investor Compensation Fund is built on the basis of data reported by the fund's members and does not take into account whether an investor uses one or more intermediaries, so the total number of investors is smaller.