Demirbank turns into UniCredit

Rebranding on the Romanian banking market. After more than a year since taking over the controlling interests in Demirbank Romania, the Italians at UniCredito opted for a change in the name of the former branch of the Turkish banking group Demirbank.
The new name of the bank controlled by the Italian financial group through a stake of 82.5% is UniCredit Romania.  This is the first visible action of the majority shareholder since the takeover. The Italian group announced an aggressive expansion policy for the Romanian market, which entails more than 30 million euros in investment at least for the next few years.
The registration of the new name is currently processed by the Trade Registry in the 12 cities where UniCredit Romania has offices, with the operation already concluded in Bucharest. UniCredit Romania is the same legal entity as Demirbank.
The ambition of the parent-bank, UniCredito for its Romanian subsidiary is to have it ranking among the top five players on the Romanian market in terms of financial performance by 2005 and at the same time among the top ten players in terms of assets.
UniCredit Romania operates a 12-office network at the moment, two of which Bucharest-based. Three more offices are to become operational in Arad, Targu-Mures and Pitesti by the end of the year. UniCredit’s plans include opening 30 more offices in the next three years. At the same time, the bank’s strategy entails developing retail banking services and expansion of the banking product range by using the latest advances in the information technology. Demirbank posted H1 net profit of 53.7bn ROL, up 456% since the same time last year.
Total assets by June 30, 2002 were in excess of 2,550bn ROL, up 41% since the end of June 2001, while equity amounted to 628bn ROL.
The bank representatives say the results were computed in line with the Romanian accounting standards and are due to the increase in net revenues derived from interests and commissions.
Demirbank was established as a branch of Turkey-based Demirbank TAS in late 1997. UniCredito Italiano (UCI) bought 82.5% in the bank in June 2001.