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Financial & Banking
Fitch Places Romanian UniCredit Bank S.A.'s VR on RWP on Announced Merger
Monday, November 6, 2023
Fitch Ratings has placed Romanian UniCredit Bank S.A.'s (UCBRO) 'bb' Viability Rating (VR) on Rating Watch Positive (RWP). The bank's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) has been affirmed at 'BBB' with a Stable Outlook. The rating actions follow the announcement on 24 October 2023 by UniCredit S.p.A. (UC; BBB/Stable), majority shareholder of UCBRO, that it has reached an initial agreement to merge UCBRO with Alpha Bank Romania S.A. (ABR), owned by ...
BRD Group posts 20.8 pct higher nine-month net profit of 1.227 bln RON
Monday, November 6, 2023
BRD Group's nine-month net profit amounted to 1.227 billion RON, up 20.8 percent compared to 1.016 billion RON in the same period of 2022, and the return on equity (ROE) increased to 20.9 percent from 16.7 percent in the year-ago period, the bank announced on Friday.The increase in BRD Group's net lending (including leasing receivables) as of end-September stood in the double-digit realm, at 10 percent year-over-year.In the retail segment, the balance of net ...
Profit of Raiffeisen Bank Romania, up by 45 pct in first nine months, to 1.3 billion RON
Monday, November 6, 2023
Raiffeisen Bank Romania recorded a profit of 1.3 billion RON in the first nine months, up 45% compared to the same period last year, the bank announced on Friday.According to the quoted source, the bank recorded total assets of 67.5 billion RON in the first nine months, up 9% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, operating expenses increased by 11% year on year, mainly from personnel, IT and logistics costs.The savings of Raiffeisen Bank ...
PayU GPO Romania: 46% of all processed transactions are made with a previously saved card
Monday, November 6, 2023
In the first 9 months of this year, PayU GPO Romania, the leader of local online payment market, registered a 25% increase in processed volumes, compared to the reference interval of 2022. From the point of view of the number of transactions it registered 18% more transactions than in the same period last year. The volume of payments made through a single click has an accelerated pace of adoption among online ...
Mastercard introduces the free shopping insurance
Monday, November 6, 2023
Mastercard is launching a new benefit for Mastercard Standard credit cardholders issued in Romania – the free insurance for online and in-store purchases. The insurance provides protection in situations where goods purchased with an eligible Mastercard card become unusable due to theft, accidental damage, manufacturing defects or other unforeseen circumstances, without the need for prior enrollment. “Whether we’re talking about online or in-store ...
Csaba Bálint, CFA, BNR Board Member, at Strategica International Conference Managing „Business Transformations during Uncertain Times”
Monday, October 30, 2023
Distinguished guests,Ladies and gentlemen, Allow me to extend a warm welcome at the National Bank of Romania (BNR) for the 11th edition of Strategica International Conference titled “Managing Business Transformations during Uncertain Times”. As we ...
EIF And Leading Romanian Banks Join Forces To Empower SMEs For Sustainable Growth
Monday, October 30, 2023
The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed agreements with five banks to support Romania’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The series of uncapped direct guarantees totalling €1 billion is backed by the InvestEU Member State Compartment in Romania and the Recovery and Resilience Facility Romania (RRF RO) and represents an ambitious venture aimed at enhancing sustainability and competitiveness for businesses across the ...
NN Romania Appoints Eszter Martin a? the New Chief HR Officer
Monday, October 30, 2023
Eszter Martin is the new Chief HR Officer of NN Romania starting November 15, succeeding Meliha Yardim who has taken the Chief HR Officer role in NN Spain. Eszter Martin joins NN Romania after four years as Chief HR Officer in NN Hungary, where she significantly contributed to the organization’s transformation into the first full agile insurance company in Hungary and to consolidating its attractive employer ...
Mastercard:The digital payments market level in Romania, rated at 56 out of 100 points
Monday, October 30, 2023
The development of digital payments in Romania scored 56 out of 100 points in 2022, according to the Digital Payments Index (DPI), an analysis tool developed by Mastercard. The result is calculated based on the individual scores registered by three sub-indexes, each with equal share in the final score: 70 for Infrastructure, 55 for Knowledge and 44 for Usage, and indicates a slight increase compared to 2021. “In ...
UniCredit and Alpha Bank announce merger in Romania and strategic partnership in Greece
Monday, October 30, 2023
* Merger of Alpha Bank Romania and UniCredit Bank Romania and creation of third largest bank in Romania by total assets, with Alpha Bank retaining a 9.9% stake. Alpha Services and Holdings S.A., 100% parent of Alpha Bank S.A. (“Alpha Bank”), and UniCredit have agreed the key economic terms for the merger of UniCredit Bank S.A. (“UniCredit Bank Romania”) with Alpha Bank ...
FX Market Outlook for 2024: What should Romanian SMEs expect from the local currency and forex market
Monday, October 30, 2023
In its 2024 Foreign Exchange Market Outlook released this ...
Eurohold to sue Romania for €500 million over ‘hostile takeover’
Monday, October 30, 2023
Bulgarian insurer Eurohold made public its intention on Thursday (26 October) to sue Romania to the tune of €500 million if the case of the “hostile takeover” of Euroins, its Romanian unit, is not solved to the satisfaction of the Bulgarian side, ...
Eight out of ten companies consider it is important to benefit from advisory services during tax raids
Monday, October 30, 2023
A survey commissioned by Nowium, a major provider of integrated fiscal and legal consulting services, revealed that 82% of companies see advice during tax raids as being important or very important. However, only 53% of companies actally employ such services during inspections. Company representatives consider the time and resources allocated as the main source of concern during these ...
Minutes of the monetary policy meeting of the National Bank of Romania Board on 5 October 2023
Monday, October 23, 2023
Publishing date: 19 October 2023 The National Bank of Romania Board members present at the meeting: Mugur Isarescu, Chairman of the Board and Governor of the National Bank of Romania; Florin Georgescu, Vice Chairman of the Board and First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania; Leonardo Badea, Board member and Deputy Governor of the ...
Press release of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight
Monday, October 23, 2023
2023-Oct-19 This year’s third meeting of the General Board of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight (NCMO) was held on 19 October 2023. During the meeting, Board members examined analyses and adopted measures concerning macroprudential policy and systemic risk, namely: (i) examining the regular ...
BNR's Micu: We are on 15th place in European Union in terms of card transactions
Monday, October 23, 2023
Romania ranks 15th in the European Union in terms of card transactions and 14th in terms of other digital payment instruments, according to the data presented on Thursday at the event dedicated to the National Day of Electronic Commerce, by Raluca Micu, head of the Payment Supervision Department in the National Bank of Romania (BNR)."We have quite a lot of statistics in the area of payments, but I don't know if the number of cases is necessarily relevant. If ...
Inflation is decelerating but the fight is not over
Monday, October 23, 2023
by eToro analyst for Romania, Bogdan Maioreanu Despite its continuous deceleration over the last seven months, the yearly ...
SIGNAL IDUNA celebrates 15 years in the Romanian insurance market
Monday, October 23, 2023
SIGNAL IDUNA is celebrating 15 years of success in the Romanian market, marking a significant milestone in the company's evolution by repositioning itself as an insurer offering insurance solutions suitable for any of the needs of Romanians. From the early years of its operations, the company has focused on digitization and innovation, demonstrated by its successful mission to become the leader in the ...
Approval rate of online loans granted by financial and banking institutions, doubles in last 4 years
Monday, October 23, 2023
The approval rate of online loans granted by financial-banking institutions has doubled in the last 4 years in Romania, according to an analysis carried out by a provider accredited by the Authority for the Digitization of Romania (ADR) for remote identity verification services.According to Qoobiss, the migration of financial services to the digital environment has determined the search for innovative and technological solutions to satisfy the needs of ...
OTP Bank Romania announces a 66 pct increase in number of users of digital products
Monday, October 23, 2023
OTP Bank Romania announced a 66% increase in the number of digital product users in the last year and a half, and one of the bank's most popular digital solutions, the SmartBank application, was adopted by over 80% of customers."One of the bank's most popular digital solutions, the SmartBank app, has been adopted by over 80% of customers, allowing them to manage banking directly from their mobile devices. This has contributed to an impressive ...