Raiffeisen Bank and ABN Amro on top

Raiffeisen Bank and ABN Amro Bank are still progressing at the fastest pace of all banks in terms of banking assets. The data supplied by the National Bank of Romania (NBR) show the two came out second (910 million euros) and third (845 million euros) in the ranking of the banks controlled by foreign investors operating on the Romanian market at the end of September.

As a comparison, both banks were managing 802 million euros and 744 million euros in assets respectively at the end of H1.

Whereas most of ABN Amro’s assets can be very well linked to corporate clients, a market segment the Dutch bank is still loyal to, Raiffeisen Bank’s asset growth can be explained by its aggressive exposure on the retail market.

The most active bank of those controlled by foreign investors is still BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, which did not manage to post more than 8% growth in assets to 1,910 million euros in the third quarter, though.

Far behind ABN Amro, as their assets are about half of those of the Dutch bank are the banks in the so-called second batch: Alpha Bank – 479.4 million euros and 3.4% market share in late September, Citibank – 444.2 million euros and 3.1% market share and HVB Bank – 416.7 million euros and 2.9% of the market.

Most active foreign bank branches in Romania were, as shown by the NBR data, ING Bank Romania, whose assets went up from 569.7 million euros to 684 million euros from July through September and Banca di Roma, yet far behind the Dutch bank.

Banca Comerciala Romana (Romanian Commercial Bank – BCR) remains the top bank in the Romanian system in terms of assets, with 33% market share. Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (Romanian Savings Bank – CEC) claimed a position among the top financial institutions due to its about one billion-euro assets.

The banking system has been faced with a steep profit decline this year because the shrinking margins were not fully offset by the increase in the business volume. Those that gained the most this year were the banks that focused on retail, as the great demand for loans was rather quickly met.

Even though the profit decline is expected to maintain over the next few years, the banks operating in the Romanian banking system keep devising strategies meant to increase their exposure on the market, as they are still making far more money from investments in Romania than in the neighbouring countries.