Reuters: OTP Bank agrees to buy Romania’s Banca Romaneasca

OTP, the most powerful banking group in Hungary, has agreed to a deal to buy Romania's Banca Romaneasca from the National Bank of Greece (NBG), sources told Reuters. "There is a deal, NBG's unit will be sold to OTP," said a source in Athens, Greece. Sources in the banking market also told local Ziarul Financiar this June that OTP is in the pole position in the tender for acquiring local lender Banca Romaneasca. According to these sources, Banca Transilvania was also in the race. NBG plans to sell more assets in the Balkans, including its Romanian operations, to complete a restructuring plan agreed with European authorities. The National Bank of Greece put Banca Romaneasca up for sale at the end of last year. Banca Romaneasca had assets of EUR 1.4 billion at the end of 2016. It had a market share of 1.6% on the local banking market, down from 2.9% in 2008. Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com