Bucuresti (the Bucharest Stock Exchange - BSE) and the Romanian Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system (RASDAQ). The BSE was re-established in June 1995 after a 50 year hiatus during communism and began operations on November 20, 1995. It is colloquially known as the "big board" although it has a market capitalization of only $700 million, compared to RASDAQ’s market capitalization of $2.8 billion. The BSE system consists of the Exchange, the Clearing and Settlement division, and the BSE Registry division. Only brokers can participate in the BSE, where they maintain accounts holding investors’ securities. In the near future, the BSE will allow banks acting as custodians to participate directly as account-holders.

Issuers, including those currently listed on RASDAQ and wishing to be listed on the BSE, must meet strict financial criteria. Some of the listing requirements are:

RASDAQ, established on October 25, 1996, is the over-the-counter equities market patterned after NASDAQ in the U.S. It was established using funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and utilizes NASDAQ’s PORTAL system. PORTAL, an acronym for the Private Offerings and Restricted Transactions through Automated Linkages market, is the same system used by NASDAQ to trade in securities falling under Rule 144A. These restricted securities, representing private placements of foreign companies, mandated a special system.

RASDAQ has approximately 3,000 listed issues, all of which resulted from the ongoing mass privatization program. All privatized issues are automatically listed when they satisfy basic disclosure requirements and have transferred their registers to the Romanian Registry of Shareholders. Unlisted privatized companies have either not yet confirmed their registry records or have recently undergone a restructuring.

The RASDAQ system consists of the trading system itself, Societatea Nationalã de Compensare, Decontare si Depozitare (the National Securities Clearing, Settlement, and Depository Corporation - SNCDD) and the Romanian Registry of Shareholders (RRS). SNCDD is responsible for clearing and settling all RASDAQ trades. It maintains accounts for its participants, which include brokers and custodian banks. All shares must be lodged in the participant account before a trade can be executed. RRS maintains the official ownership records of all listed securities on RASDAQ and issues International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) for them. Other commercial registrars similar in structure to, and competing with, RRS are expected to start up soon.