San Paolo seeks 3% market share

Italian financial group SanPaolo IMI is contemplating expansion of its operations on the Eastern European markets, Romania inclusive, where it intends to attain 3% market share in terms of assets. “The SanPaolo IMI Group on April 19 endorsed a revision of the strategic plan for the bank”s assets in Eastern Europe. As for Romania especially, the plan entails a strong expansion of the territorial network and a significant increase in assets. The group intends to attain at least 3% market share in a short while starting from some 0.5% at the moment,” Marco Capellini, general manager of SanPaolo IMI Romania told Ziarul Financiar. To sustain this growth, the group will invest 25 to 40 million euros in Romania over the next few years. The market share increase will be backed by the expansion of the territorial network, so that SanPaolo could establish a countrywide presence. The bank will reach a total of 65-70 branches opened by 2008. ZF