Out of the top 7 players involved in the domestic banking sector just one name does not have a strong presence on the Romanian market, according to a survey conducted by UniCredit. The Central and Eastern European banking market is dominated by 7 powerful names, with these groups accounting for around 26% of the total assets.

At present, Italy's UniCredit boasts the strongest presence in the region, operating in 20 countries. Second comes the Austrian Erste group, which is followed by another Vienna-based group, Raiffeisen. The list of top players is completed by Belgium's KBC, the French Groupe, Societe Generale, the recently created Italian group, IntesaSanPaolo, and Hungary's OTP Bank.

From these companies, only Belgium's KBC does not operate a bank on the domestic market. However, KBC originally voiced an interest in the Romanian market in 2005 and participated in the privatisation processes of both BCR and CEC. As a result of the Belgians failing to acquire either of the two banks, last year KBC decided to take their first domestic step by taking over the leasing firm, Romstal Leasing.

Cheaper and easier to integrate, such an acquisition allows the Belgians to keep in touch with the domestic market. Fortis, another Belgian group, made a similar decision by taking over Global Finance, another player on the domestic leasing market.

In addition, out the top six regional groups operating in Romania, four are included among the top five players on the market. Austria's Erste leads the group, through BCR, while the domestic unit of SocGen, BRD, is positioned in second place. Raiffeisen owns the third bank in the system, while UniCredit Tiriac follows in fourth place. Only IntesaSanPaolo and OTP operate domestic units that remain small (although both groups have announced ambitious development plans). According to a survey conducted by UniCredit