Swedish bank Hoist Finance AB has decided to enter the Romanian banking market by opening a branch this September, Ziarul Financiar reported.

The bank is an expert in restructuring bad loans, something that might surface in significant amounts during the post-crisis period, including in Romania.

The registration procedures were concluded in March - shortly after the coronavirus pandemic reached Europe.

Hoist Finance AB Stockholm - Bucharest Branch has already been included in the central bank's register of credit institutions. The bank's registration date in this register is March 18, 2020.

"The branch intends to start the activity on September 1, 2020," according to a note in the BNR register about Hoist Finance Stockholm - Bucharest Branch.

Following the restructuring of debts in the banking sector after the 2008 financial crisis, Hoist Finance was involved in buying and restructuring non-performing loans from large banks in Europe.

In the years after the economic and financial crisis, Romanian banks also sold non-performing loans to international debt recovery specialists, such as APS, EOS KSI, Kruk, or Coface, to clean up their balance sheets.

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andrei@romania-insider.com