Brokers' revenues from stock transactions in 2010: merely 12 million euros

Fees collected in by brokerages from stock transactions carried out on the Stock Exchange, which have the biggest weight in their revenues, dropped last year to around 12m euros, from over 15m euros in 2009, though the value of deals on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE and RASDAQ) climbed by 10%, to 6.2bn RON (1.45bn euros).

The market decline was primarily prompted by the falling trading fees, with part of brokerages coming on the market with offers of very low fees in a bid to "steal" rivals' clients, and the battle was mainly fought on the segment of large, institutional clients.

The head of the brokerage department of one of the biggest banks on the market told ZF that at this level of fees not even the largest brokerages are profitable any longer.

Razvan Pasol, chairman of Intercapital Invest, one of the biggest retail brokers, estimates that revenues brokers derived last year from stock transactions on the Stock Exchange range between 12 and 14m euros, down 10-15% from 2009, in addition to the around 1m euros from futures trades on Sibex.