Best bank
Banca Comerciala Romana Best investment bank
Raiffeisen Bank
Most improved bank
Banca Transilvania
Banca Comerciala Romana continues to dominate an increasingly competitive Romanian banking market. It has a 29% share of total assets. In the past year, its deposits grew by 20%, while its leasing unit grew by 60% in 2003. It is also developing a consumer finance business.
In January, it launched a $200 million syndicated loan, which was the first international loan launched by a Romanian financial institution. The issue was helped by a ratings upgrade from Standard & Poor?s before launch, from B to B+.
Towards the end of 2003, the Romanian government finally took some steps forward with the privatization of BCR, selling a 25% stake to the European Investment Bank and International Finance Corporation. Privatization of the bank has become a priority after the IMF made it a condition of lending, and the EU also signalled that it expected more progress in banking privatization. Another 25% stake of BCR is expected to be sold to a private investor this year. A strong investor would put BCR in a good position to maintain its leadership of the market in the run-up to EU accession.
BCR?s market share actually shrank somewhat in 2003, like those of many of the other top five banks. The exception was Raiffeisen Bank, which grew its market share by 2% and overtook CEC as the third-largest bank. Its assets increased 1.5 times to e1.06 billion.
The bank is a capital markets leader, ranking first by equity turnover, and first in public tender offers arranged. It arranged the biggest and second-biggest public takeover. It also has an 18.5% secondary market share in government securities.
Banca Transilvania is a good example of a bank that has gone from a smaller regional player to a serious national bank under the guidance of good management. In 2002, Robert Rekkers joined the bank as CEO, and led it in a new direction, diversifying it from being purely a regional SME bank. It maintains its leadership in that area but the BT group has set up several other areas of business, such as leasing, securities brokerage, consumer finance and insurance. Its leasing business grew by 30% last year, and its securities arm, BT Securities, advised on 14 public offerings. As a result, the bank?s net profit grew from L272 billion in 2002 to L313 billion ($9.4 million) in 2003.
