A SUPPLEMENT TO EUROMONEY/APRIL 1998: EASTERN EUROPE
Several international banks are getting ready to step up their activities in Romania, despite delays in reform, difficulties with privatization and a political crisis that has gripped the country for months.
Groups including ABN Amro, ING, Citibank and Bank Austria Creditanstalt that already have a presence on the ground are expanding their businesses into new areas. Several others, including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Dresdner/BNP, have either just opened local branches or plan to do so. And even one or two of the investment banks whose executives have become regular visitors to Bucharest are evaluating whether they now need offices there too.
"With 23 million people, this is eastern Europe's second largest market [after Poland] and it's one where there is an overwhelming need for modern banking services and new financial products," says a western banker in Bucharest. "It's true people had expected a lot more from this government. But we shouldn't let that disguise the interesting opportunities here."
Romania, which under Nicolae Ceausescu endured one of eastern Europe's most repressive regimes, was slower than others in the region to attract big international banks after the collapse of communism in 1989.