Romanian lender UniCredit Tiriac Bank changed its name to UniCredit Bank, starting August 18, 2015, after Italian group UniCredit finalized the acquisition of Romanian billionaire Ion Tiriac’s stake in the local bank.

The bank will continue its rebranding process in Romania by changing its visual identity (name and logo) in all contracts and client communication, as well as by replacing the clients’ cards that hold the old name. The process will not bring any changes to the bank’s products or the client contracts, and will bear no additional costs for the clients, according to an official statement of UniCredit Bank.

Italian group UniCredit (via UniCredit Bank Austria) bought Romanian businessman Ion Tiriac’s 45% stake in the Romanian subsidiary, in June this year, increasing its stake to 95.6%. The deal’s value was not disclosed.

This deal marked Ion Tiriac’s exit from the Romanian banking market after 25 years in which he was the only Romanian to have his name on a bank. The former tennis player, now a billionaire, founded Banca Ion Tiriac in 1991, and managed to attract other investors through public subscription. In June 2005, his bank merged with Austrian owned HVB Bank Romania. Then HVB Tiriac Bank merged with UniCredit’s local subsidiary, following an international deal in which the Italian group bought Bank Austria.

Despite the two mergers, Tiriac’s name remained in the bank’s branding, due to his reputation in the local business community.

UniCredit (Tiriac) Bank was the fifth largest bank in Romania at the end of 2014 with total assets worth EUR 6.45 billion and a 7.9% market share. The bank currently operates a network of 180 units and has some 3,350 employees.

Ion Tiriac is one of Romania’s richest with an estimated net worth of over USD 1 billion, according to Forbes. He still has his name on Romania’s biggest insurance company, Allianz-Tiriac Asigurari, a joint-venture with German group Allianz. He also owns Tiriac Holding, a group of local companies that operate in the auto, real estate, and energy sectors.

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editor@romania-insider.com