EximBank, a new player in the retail banking market in Romania

By RBJ
The merger between EximBank, as the absorbing company, and Banca Românească, as the absorbed company, was officially registered at the Trade Registry. EximBank, whose majority shareholder is the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Finance, has become a top Romanian universal bank, addressing both companies and individuals, said Adrian Câciu, the Minister of Finance.
“After an ambitious process, unique on the Romanian financial-banking market, the merger between EximBank, as the absorbing company, and Banca Românească, as the absorbed company, was officially registered at the Trade Registry, so that the beginning of 2023 brings to the market retail banking a new player, strong and ready to contribute to the diversification of banking offers on the Romanian market”, said Adrian Câciu, Minister of Finance.
EximBank, whose majority shareholder is the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Finance, thus became a leading Romanian universal bank, addressing both companies and individuals.
The state thus becomes more competitive and a direct contributor to the increase in the degree of banking intermediation in Romania.
As early as 2019, the purpose of the acquisition of the Romanian Bank, from its Greek owner, was both to consolidate the state’s participation in the banking sector, and to improve the financial position of the Exim group, respectively to diversify the business model by adding retail customers and forming a mass customer reviews that allow the consolidation of the base for attracting financial resources and the efficient allocation of capital, as a result of the resulting synergies and economies of scale.
The transaction has the effect of creating another strong national brand belonging to the Romanian state as a shareholder, EximBank rising after the merger to the 8th place in the top banks – from the 21st position in 2012 – with a market share in total assets of about 3% .
Independent of the specific components of a universal bank, EximBank will continue to act in the segment of state guarantees and insurances, in accordance with the mandate received from the Romanian state, thus supporting exports, international transactions and other projects in priority areas of the economy or the absorption of European funds .
By mobilizing funds in these converging directions with those of the Romanian Government’s policy in relation to the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the sustainable economic development of the country is pursued by increasing the competitiveness of Romanian companies. Supporting existing economic projects or new ones also means training the Romanian workforce, maintaining or creating new jobs, implicitly leading to an increase in the standard of living of the population.
EximBank has performed rapidly in the last 10 years so that, in addition to entering the Top 10 largest banks by assets in Romania, it is today one of the most valuable Romanian companies and an institution of systemic importance”, says Câciu.
The price paid by EximBank for Banca Românească was almost 60 million euros, for an acquired capital of approximately 130 million euros. In addition to the price paid for the capital, the total transaction included the repayment of the subordinated loan granted to the Romanian Bank by NBG, in the amount of 65 million euros, and the repayment, by BROM, of the intragroup financing received from the parent bank, in the amount of 90 million euros, paid by Banca Românească from its own liquidity.
Independent of the specific components of a universal bank, after the merger, EximBank will continue to act in the state guarantees and insurance segment, according to the mandate received from the Romanian state.
Following successive rounds of negotiations, EximBank and the National Bank of Greece (NBG) signed, on June 20, 2019, the contract for the purchase of the majority stake of the Romanian Bank, and, in December 2019, the transaction received the no-objection notices from the Competition Council and the National Bank of Romania, the relevant regulatory authorities for this transaction. With the fulfillment of the mandatory regulatory requirements and the other elements provided for in the agreement that EximBank and the National Bank of Greece signed in January 2020, all the conditions for concluding the transaction were met.
EximBank was established in 1992 and has as its majority shareholder the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Finance.