BCR brokers start retail offensive with online platform

Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), controlled by Austrian group Erste, has launched its own online trading platform, which provides retail investors with access to the Bucharest, Vienna, and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
BCR is the second big broker to have launched an online trading platform dedicated to small investors in the past year, after brokerage KBC Securities, former market leader in 2008, shifted its focus to retail as early as 2009, in the absence of big institutional investors.
Last autumn, BCR brought its brokerage services in-house, which were taken over by the trading department of the BCR. In the first half of this year, BCR brokered stock exchange deals worth 322.4 million RON (almost 80 million euros), ranking 13th in the annual ranking of brokers.
"BCR Broker trading platform provides investors with access to investments in shares, bonds, and certificates listed on the Bucharest, Vienna, and Frankfurt stock exchanges. In autumn we will also launch online platform BCR Trader, for trading gold, spot silver, and CFDs on the Forex market. The two platforms are integrated into an investment portal where investors can get the information they need and access various analyses and tutorials," said Sorin Mititelu, business and retail products development manager of BCR.
Erste Bank, majority shareholder of BCR, is the first issuer of structured products on the Romanian market, after yesterday, July 8, was the first day of trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange of index and turbo certificates issued by the Austrian bank.