Banca Transilvania reaches 2.2 million clients after Volksbank merger

Banca Transilvania (BT), one of the top three banks in Romania, has reached 2.2 million clients after finalizing its merger with Volksbank Romania (VBRO), on December 31, 2015. Some 10% of its clients are former Volksbank clients, according to a press release issued on Monday, January 4. Banca Transilvania took over Volksbank Romania from Austrian group Volksbank in April 2015, in a EUR 711 million deal. After Romania’s National Bank approved the transaction, Banca Transilvania started integrating Volksbank into its own structure. “We started this project bearing in mind that we want to retain the clients of Volksbank Romania, to build a positive relationship from the very beginning. They were our main priority. Upon the acquisition of Volksbank Romania, we stated our commitment towards them and we have fulfilled it entirely: approximately 34,000 VBRO clients enjoyed discounts and benefits from BT,” said Banca Transilvania’s representatives. They pointed out that the total debt reduction for VBRO clients has amounted to RON 1.5 billion (EUR 330 million), resulting from the refund of the risk fee for loans irrespective of the currency, from discounts for the conversion of CHF loans, and from the automatic diminishment of the total debt for current loans. Banca Transilvania has thus managed to keep most of Volksbank’s clients and increased its customer base to 2.2 million. “Our team is bigger, so that out of the 7,300 employees, almost 400 come from the Volksbank Romania team.” More than 600 persons from both banks, of which approximately 100 persons with permanent responsibilities in key fields, have contributed to this project – acquisition, integration of Volksbank Romania into Banca Transilvania's structure and the merger through absorption. Some of them were on duty in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest on New Year's Eve and on the first days of 2016, as well, in order to ensure the successful merger of the two banks. A.T. Kearney Management Consulting, KPMG Romania, VCP Vienna Capital Partners, and the Peli Filip law firm have advised Banca Transilvania in the takeover and integration process. Banca Transilvana’s investors will be able to see the financial impact of this merger on the bank’s financials in early February when the bank should release its preliminary results for the full year 2015. At that point, the investors will also find out whether Banca Transilvania will move to the second place in the local banks’ ranking by assets and manage to surpass BRD Groupe Societe Generale. Banca Transilvania is controlled by a group of local and international institutional investors, which includes several Romanian investment companies (SIFs), the EBRD, the IFC, and local pension and investment funds. Horia Ciorcila, the Chairman of the Board, also holds a close to 5% stake. Banca Transilvania’s shares are traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) under the ticker TLV. The shares went down by 1.65% in the first trading session of 2016 (on January 4), to RON 2.39 per share, after they gained more than 40% last year. Its market capitalization was over EUR 1.6 billion.