International investors' interest in the Bulgarian capital market grew in the first year of Bulgaria's membership in the EU, Deputy Finance Minister Dimiter Ivanovski said Friday, opening a roundtable on "Bulgaria's Membership in the EU: Impact on the Development of the Capital Markets in Southeast Europe".

The event is organized by the Financial Supervision Commission and is attended by representatives of regulatory and supervisory institutions of the financial sector in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe, as well as by Carlo Comporti, Secretary General of the Committee of European Securities Regulators.

In his address to the participants Ivanovski said that the harmonization of the Bulgarian legislation in the area of financial services and markets with the European acquis has had an extremely positive effect.

The reforms implemented in the sector have led to better protection of investors, to a more efficient, competitive and transparent market, as well as to improved quality and diversity of the financial tools and services on offer, Ivanovski said. As a result of the pension reform the capital market has become a key place for investment by pension funds, he said.

Proof of the increased interest on the part of international investors in the Bulgarian capital market is the admittance of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange as a full-fledged member of the Federation of European Stock Exchanges, Ivanovski said.