On the stock exchange, women’s presence stands at only 10-15%, according with ZF estimates. The situation should change considering female professionals come with a set of qualities that are extremely valuable on the Romanian Wall Street, such as multitasking, balance, intuition, prudence and organization.
Women working on the capital market run brokerages or investment management companies, are involved in bourse management of payment institutions, draw up analysis reports on the basis of which local or foreign investors decide whether to sell or buy stocks. In the past, for many years, the ruling authority (the former CNVM) was headed by women and even the Bucharest Stock Exchange was run for almost two years by a woman, Anca Dumitru.
The most influential woman on the local capital market is Dana Mirela Ionescu. She runs the investment banking and brokerage arm of Raiffeisen Bank. At present, she is readying the giant bond issue of the Bucharest Municipality, another record for the local capital market.
The biggest Romanian institutional investor on the bourse is run by a woman, Raluca Tintoiu, general manager of ING Pensii. She manages mandatory private pensions for over 1.8 million Romanians.
“I would not say the capital market is a field dominated by men. There may be more men at the level of management entities, but I believe this is a matter of circumstance, not a result of prejudice,” says Anca Dumitru, deputy general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Other female managers in the private pension industry are Eugenia Stanciu, board member at Allianz-Tiriac Pensii Private, Anne-Marie Mancas, investment manager at Generali Pensii, Melania Mirea (BCR) and Rozaura Stanescu (BRD).
In the investment fund industry, where over 200 professionals manage RON20 billion worth of assets, the presence of women is more visible in the second tier management.
The reins of the biggest fund managers, Erste Asset Management and Raiffeisen Asset Management, are held by men, but the financial and operations departments are run by women. Valentina Berevoianu is the chief financial officer of Erste AM and Felicia Popovici is the deputy CEO and vice-president of Raiffeisen Asset Management.
The biggest independent fund manager, Certinvest, has a woman, Daniela Vasile, in the position of deputy CEO.
BT Asset Management has Dorina Josan as general manager and Carpatica Asset Management is run from the position of general manager by Alexandra Neamtu.
The most “feminine” SIF managements are those of SIF Oltenia and SIF Banat-Crisana. Anina Radu is the vice-president and deputy CEO at SIF Oltenia. SIF Oltenia’s executive management includes the biggest number of women among SIFs. SIF Banat-Crisana’s executive management includes only two women, Gabriela Grigore and Teodora Sferdian.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)