Strainu onLine

Fig. 1: The Add Security window in GNUCash

GNUCash has a very good automatic price retreival utility, based on the Perl Finance::Quote library. Unfortunately, the sites it is using to get the data from don’t have any quotes from the Romanian markets.

Therefore, I decided to write my own modules, and I started with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, since their data was reliable and available in a accessible format.

Here is how you can add this package to your own system:

1. Install Perl. If you’re using Linux, you probably already have it. Write perl -v to find out the version you have. If you’re using Windows, ActivePerl or Strawberry Perl should do the trick.
2. Install Finance::Quote. GNUCash offers an automated program to do that.
   1. Make sure GNUCash is not running.
   2. In Linux, open a root shell and write update-finance-quote. In Windows, go to the start menu and you will find a shortcut to a BAT file called „Install Online Price Retreival”.
3. For now, the script is not yet included in Finance::Quote and must be installed separately.
   1. Download the provided archive and extract it along with the rest of the Perl scripts for Finance::Quote (you will see the download path during the installation). Make sure the Finance folder overwrites the current folder.
   2. In the Finance folder you will find 2 files named Quotes.pm and Quotes.pm.patch. You can apply the patch by using the command patch Quotes.pm Quotes.pm.patch On Windows, just open the Quotes.pm file in Notepad, search for a line that begins with @modules = and add BSERO to the list of modules.
4. Start GNUCash and go the the Tools->Security Editor menu. You will see a window similar to the one on the left side of Fig. 1.
5. Click on the Add button. A new window, just like the one on the right side of Fig. 1 will appear. Let’s say that you want to get the stock price for Banca Românâ pentru Dezvoltare (symbol: BRD). You add the following information in that window:
   1. Full Name: Banca Română pentru Dezvoltare
   2. Symbol: BRD (this is very important, as this is the search criteria)
   3. Type: BSE (or BVB, or whatever you want)
   4. Check the Get Online Quotes checkbox. Three new options will be activated.
   5. 

      Fig.2: Automatic price retreival

      Choose Type of quote source: Unknown

   6. From the drop-down choose bsero.
   7. Click OK twice and you’re ready to test it.
6. Go to the Tools->Price Editor menu. You will see the dialog in Fig. 2. Click the Get Quotes button and you should see a new price appearing. You can notice the source is „Finance::Quote” and the price is the correct one for that date. If you wish, you can check it on the BSE website.

After the bad experiences I had with BTAM, I decided to try my luck with the Asset Management division of the biggest romanian bank, BCR. As with most bank-owned funds, you can buy units from the bank itself.

So I went to one of the big branches, I went in and asked where I could buy some units from their funds. The young lady at the reception pointed me to the manager’s office (which was on another entrance). It seemed that I could only buy units from the manager… whatever. I went to the office where I was met by an old, respectable lady which politely asked me if I had an account at the bank. When I said „no”, she asked for my ID so she could open one, because „fund units can only be paid for by bank transfer”. Considering my past experiences with that bank, I took my ID and left right in that moment.

That could have been the end of it, but based on my experience with BTAM, I decided to write them an email. After about a week, in which the email passed by 4 of their employees (ofcourse, the headers were still there), I received an email from someone apologizing for the problem and inviting me to contact them in order to buy those unit. I suppose that in the banks, an email is not yet considered as a valid mean of contact…