The number of foreign banks that want to provide direct services on the Romanian market reached 75 at the end of August, according to the NBR data, while 135 foreign insurers have also voiced an interest in the domestic market.

From the start of this year, EU banks and insurers have been permitted to provide services in Romania without a licence from the NBR or the Insurance Supervision Commission, and can now act exclusively under the supervision of the monetary authorities of their own countries.

In August alone, eight new foreign lending institutions notified the NBR with a view to providing their services directly on the domestic market.

The list includes both banks that do not currently provide any domestic services, as well as players already present on the market through subsidiaries.

For instance, the second largest Israeli group, Leumi Bank, intends to provide services directly through its London division, despite the fact that it acquired a domestic bank last year.

The list of entities that sent notifications in August also includes major names from the London market, such as Barclays Bank and Abbey National Treasury Services.

In addition, the Austrian subsidiary of German-based Allianz group has sent a notification. The list also includes an Italian bank, Micos Banca, a German bank, Aareal Bank and a Hungarian bank, Ella Elso.

Overall, most of the big names from the global financing industry are on the NBR's list. Nevertheless, the domestic banking market has not witnessed any major changes since the start of this year. In fact, domestic bankers say foreign players are making their presence felt particularly in the field of large-scale financing or financing for municipalities. In these cases, domestic banks are at a disadvantage because of the high administrative costs imposed by the NBR.

Therefore, most gr