Romania's central bank rejects big transaction on the banking market

Romania’s National Bank (BNR) rejected the transaction through which OTP Bank Romania was going to take over Banca Romaneasca, the local subsidiary of National Bank of Greece (NBG) group, sources from the market told local Profit.ro. It’s for the first time when the central bank opposes a deal agreed by two private groups since the consolidation process on the local banking market started, after the crisis. OTP Bank Romania, which is part of the biggest financial group in Hungary, agreed last summer to take over NBG’s subsidiaries in Romania, the biggest of which is Banca Romaneasca. The Competition Council gave its OK on this transaction in December. However, the central bank has the final say when it comes to transactions involving local banks. OTP Bank Romania’s representatives said they hadn’t received any answer from BNR on this transaction. OTP Group’s general manager Sándor Csányi recently said he had a bad feeling due to the delay in the central bank’s decision. The Banca Romaneasca takeover would have pushed OTP into the top 10 local lenders, with a market share of 3,7%. The Hungarian group agreed to pay EUR 72 million for Banca Romaneasca’s shares. However, the whole deal would have amounted to some EUR 650 million, including the subordinated loans NBG granted to its subsidiary in Romania. The Greek group now has to find another buyer for Banca Romaneasca. editor@romania-insider.com