German company intends to create modern mutual funds in Moldova

The German company Hansainvest has plans to launch a pilot project to set up modern mutual funds in Moldova, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the representative of Hansainvest Fabian Frieg, the company, whose assets are assessed at 10.5 billion euros, contributed to the creation of 60 mutual funds and has highly-qualified specialists and rich experience in attracting institutional and private investors and in managing the money. Fabian Frieg said Hansainvest has never established such cooperation relations with Western European countries, but hopes the project in Moldova will be auspicious also because the sectors in which Moldova needs investments are preferred by the investors with whom Hansainvest works, such as infrastructure, agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises, environment protection. Moldova's experience in administering the mutual funds created after the mass privatization is not positive. Elena Pui, a member of the Administration Board of the National Commission on the Financial Market, said most of the 40 mutual funds created initially were declared insolvent and are still under liquidation. Only six of them avoided insolvency and become joint stock companies. Thus, there is no classical mutual fund in Moldova at present. Doctor of Economy Sergiu Certan, director of the insurance company Sigur-Asigur, said the German experience in creating modern mutual funds is very important for Moldova. “But we must not forget that the Moldovan financial market is poorly developed as we started from regulating it not developing it. The law on investment funds and the law on nonstate pension funds are nonfunctional,” he said. Certan considers that Hansainvest could enter the Moldovan market as investment company. “An investment company can be successful in Moldova. (...) There are opportunities. The persons who come home with money after working abroad can deposit it only with the banks,” he said. Asked how much money an investment company has to attract at the initial stage to achieve results in Moldova, Certan said 100 million euros would be enough.