The stockholders of banks with small market shares (less than 1%) have little time left to make some money from selling their stakes. As the European Union accession date gets closer, the lending institutions in this region will be able to open branches in Romania only based on a notification instead of a complex file as required by the legislation still in force.
“2004 could be the last year when EU banks might be interested in taking over Romanian banks whose market share is of approximately 1% because they will no longer find an additional cost justified when they can come in Romania based only on a notification sent to the NBR,” National Bank of Romania (NBR) vice-governor Mihai Bogza told Ziarul Financiar.
He explained that any takeover having occurred in the Romanian banking system so far had either targeted a more visible market share or almost only the licence to allow for further development.
“The investments in market share have materialised in acquisitions of medium-sized or even large banks, with a significant weight on the market,” NBR official added.
Such operations were the privatisations of Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare (Romanian Development Bank – BRD), Banc Post, Banca Agricola (Agricultural Bank), in addition to the transaction between private investors involving Banca Romaneasca (Romanian Bank).
“Whenever taking over small banks with less than 1% of the market and with a small territorial network, the investor bank was actually seeking to avoid wasting time on securing NBR’s approval. In other words, they were buying the operating licence rather than the business, which was to be developed later,” Bogza said. This was the case of West Bank, Demirbank, Egnatia Bank etc. oana.nuta@zf.ro