Sibiu and Bucharest are launched in a fierce competition, after failing in their attempt to merge, due to differences relating to the value of BMFMS shares and their rate of exchange with those of BVB.

"It is our idea to encourage the Bucharest and Sibiu Stock Exchanges to think positively about a possible merger," said Sobolewski in an interview for Business Standard. WSE already owns 1.8% of shares of BMFMS which is taking steps to change the law that limits shareholder participation in a stock exchange operator to 5 percent.

Shareholders of both stock exchanges have begun rethinking a merger, according to Sobolewski, who believes WSE could boost the process.

The capitalization of BVB's two markets dropped to a current €28.3 billion due to global depreciation in the past months. WSE's capitalization ended at some €135 bln only for Polish companies, to which another €80 bln are added from foreign companies listed on WSE.

"I will see what Mr. Stere Farmache tells me today [Ed.n. yesterday] about BVB's intentions regarding regional market consolidation and especially concerning relations with Sibiu," said Sobolewski. "He asked me if I had heard about a merger project. I said I had not and that nothing had been discussed officially," said Farmache, BVB's General Manager, after meeting Sobolewski.

BVB registered share transactions worth RON 12.39 billion (€3.7 bln) while bond transactions totaled €1 mln in 2007. On WSE, €108 bln worth of shares and €2.9 bln worth of bonds were traded in October alone.