OTP Bank Buys Banca Romaneasca From National Bank of Greece

07.27.2017 By Oana Gavrila

Hungary's OTP Bank has reached an agreement to purchase lender Banca Romaneasca from National Bank of Greece, which is selling assets in the Balkans, including its Romanian operations, to complete a restructuring plan agreed with European authorities.

OTP will buy NBG's 99.28% stake in Banca Romaneasca, raising its market share to approximately 4% and becoming the eighth largest lender in Romania.

The parties did not disclose the financial aspects of the deal, which is subject to clearance by antitrust and financial supervisory authorities.

OTP Bank expects the deal will be finalized at the beginning of 2018.

Banca Romaneasca is the 14th largest bank of Romania with a market share of roughly 1.62%, according to 2016 data.

The bank is active both in the retail and the corporate segments as a universal bank. At end of 2016, the bank had assets totaling EUR1.57 billion, with gross outstanding loans of EUR1.15 billion.

Banca Romaneasca currently has 1,148 employees and operates 109 branches and 118 ATMs.

This is OTP's second acquisition in Romania after taking over Millenium Bank in 2014 from Portugal’s Millennium bcp.