Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), Romania's main stock market operator, and several local brokerage firms plan to attract more individual investors to the market by offering free finance seminars to employees working for the top local companies.

BVB launched on Wednesday, July 15, the ‘Fluent in Finance’ educational initiative, which aims to support the personal and professional development of Romania-based corporate employees and increase their awareness about managing own finances, according to an official announcement.

Under this initiative, BVB, together with brokerage firms Alpha Finance, BT Securities, Estinvest and Intercapital Invest, will collaborate with companies and corporations in Romania, in order to offer free financial education seminars to their employees, according to a BVB statement. The ‘Fluent in Finance’ seminars will teach employees how to become knowledgeable investors. They will have a chance to gain additional skills and knowledge in the area of finance management, learn about the importance of accumulating wealth, and learn how to invest on the stock market.

The pilot project will take place between July and December this year. In this period, BVB aims to reach 20 companies in Romania and provide these seminars to their employees.

Enel, Idea Bank, Idea Leasing, Garanti Bank, KPMG Romania and Orange Romania are the first companies to introduce the ‘Fluent in Finance’ project to their employees.

The project is available to any company in Romania that wishes to contribute to the financial education of its employees, regardless of its activity. Although it mainly targets companies with over 300 employees, any company is invited to send the request to organize the seminars, according to BVB.

Companies can learn more about the project and subscribe for seminars on the project’s website fluentinfinante.bvb.ro. Companies’ participation to the project is voluntary. No fee or fares are imposed on companies that want to benefit from this project, according to BVB.

This is the latest of several initiatives that the Bucharest Stock Exchange has launched in the past two years in an effort to increase the number of investors. The number of investors in listed companies is lower than 100,000 while millions of Romanians prefer to keep their savings in low-return bank deposits.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com