At Profit Financial Forum on Wednesday in Bucharest, ASF president Alexandru Petrescu and ARB executive president Florin Dănescu spoke about the markets. These are podium remarks. Not a policy decision.

Petrescu, quoted by Radio România Actualități, says the non-bank markets are holding, that the stock market shows signs of maturing, and that private pension funds have passed 246 billion lei, almost 12% of GDP. Returns above inflation, in his words. The figure is his, from the microphone, not a new report published today.

Dănescu puts legislative risk at the top of the list. Financial Intelligence: ARB is working on 124 projects, some 80% of them tied to that risk. In 20 days of September, he says, he was in Parliament 11 times. Unpredictable initiatives, high financing costs. That is the industry's complaint, not a law voted on Wednesday.

He also spoke about the banks' turnover tax, from 2023 on, and about the ROBOR file, which the banks are challenging in court. History and a dispute. Not a verdict.

RRA sums it up: a thicker capital market would cut dependence on the budget and on bank credit. A forum wish. Not a government programme.

Remarks. Not a decision.

Image: Britchi Mirela, National Bank Palace, Bucharest, 21 July 2018, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the NBR building, not the 21 October 2026 forum hall.

Sources consulted: Romanian financial markets are growing, according to ASF and ARB - Radio Romania Actualitati, 21 October 2026; Danescu (ARB): legislative risk is the main challenge for the banking industry - Financial Intelligence, 21 October 2026.