Romanian state-owned lender Eximbank, which specializes in financing companies that carry out import and export activities, plans to change its status and turn into a commercial bank, according to sources in the local banking market, cited by local Economica.net.

The bank’s goal is to acquire the license of Banca Romaneasca, a local lender that is part of National Bank of Greece (NBG) group. Banca Romaneasca is again on sale after NBG’s deal with Hungarian group OTP wasn’t approved by Romania’s National Bank (BNR). Eximbank may buy the bank’s license and network while U.S. investment fund J.C. Flowers, which bought Piraeus Bank last year, is interested in the bank’s deposits and loans and client portfolio.

By acquiring the Banca Romaneasca license, Eximbank would be able to start drawing deposits and to also finance individual clients.

The minimum social capital of a bank in Romania is RON 10 million (EUR 2.15 million) but the minimum investment needed to launch such a bank is over EUR 100 million.

editor@romania-insider.com