Danes cracking NBR's money processing monopoly

The second leading security service provider in the world, Group 4 Falck (Denmark) is the first foreign private player to break National Bank of Romania’s (NBR) monopoly of the money processing services on the Romanian market.
The Danes are opening in Bucharest the first private money processing centre in Romania, following a $5.5 million investment.
“We will have seven more regional processing centres operational by late October, so that Group 4 Falck’s total processing capacity will amount to 25,000bn ROL or equivalent. The total investment is worth $9.5 million,” Liviu Tarsea, Group 4 Falck Romania country manager, told Ziarul Financiar.
After having gained a foothold on the Romanian market by buying Agentia Particulara de Securitate (Private Security Agency) “Valahia” in June 2002, Group 4 Falck is now planning to expand in full gear as of this year. To that end, it will invest in private ambulance, fire extinguishing and money processing services, all of which are still part of the State’s monopoly.
How do the Danes plan to process Romanians’ money, after all?
“The law does not specifically prohibit (money processing) by private companies, yet I believe only an experienced operator such as Group 4 Falck could have entered this market. We are not a competitor for NBR exactly; we are more of a support to it. The logical thing to do for NBR would be to no longer engage in money processing, because we will be able to do it up to its standards,” Tarsea specified.
The Danish group (4.3bn euros in annual turnover) was established in 1901 and provides money and valuable collection and transport services, as well as money processing and security services to both private companies and state institutions. The so-called cash services account for 7.1% of Group 4 Falck’s operations. The shareholders of the group include two of the most powerful banks in the world, Deutsche Bank – 11% and Merrill Lynch – 5%. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro