Retail helps BT rise to No.5 on the market

An increase in retail operations over the last three years has propelled a new player, Banca Transilvania, to the fifth spot in the banking assets ranking. BT doubled its market share from 2.3% in 2003, to 4.7% in 2006. On the other hand, ABN Amro, which specialises in corporate services, slipped from fifth to the tenth. Following the merger of HVB and Banca Tiriac, the new entity rose to number four in the autumn of 2006. After the first four months of operations, the new bank saw its market share fall, from 5.7% in September, to 5.1% at the end of December. Despite this slight drop in market share, HVB Tiriac is still fourth in the ranking, although farther behind Raiffeisen Bank, and will not be able to catch up even if it adds the market share of UniCredit, 1.7%, with which it is to merge by the summer. The top three remains unchanged. In comparison to 2003, BCR’s market share is 3.1% lower, BRD’s share rose by 3 percent, while Raiffeisen gained 1.1%. In contrast to ABN Amro, ING turned towards the retail sector three years ago and has been holding the seventh position and a market share of 4.2% ever since. ABN Amro’s market share fell by two percent, from 5.1% to 3.1%.