When Austria’s Erste Bank bought Banca Comerciala Romana, the country’s largest institution by assets, for €4.25bn ($6.5bn) two years ago, it not only paid a full price but it also committed itself to a dramatic shift in its centre of gravity.
Already the largest part of the parent group by headcount, even after slimming down the former Romanian state savings bank from 11,500 to 8,200 staff, Erste expects BCR to be the dominant contributor of its profit and revenues in the medium term – such is the optimism about growth in Romania’s banking market that.
