ING: BCR acquisition would have put us on the top spot, but we would have missed opportunities

Netherlands' ING was the first foreign entity to enter the Romanian financial market in 1994 and it has so far expanded organically, ranking tenth in terms of assets.

ING does not regret its decision of 2002 of not acquiring BCR, which was state-owned at that time, even though such a move would have allowed it to rise to the top of the Romanian banking system, says Ralph Hamers, the one who was running the domestic subsidiary of the Dutch bank then, and who was promoted to run the group's wholesale unit in the early 2007.

"BCR would have made us attain some strategic targets faster, namely we would have entered the ranking of the five biggest players right on the leading position. On the other hand, by giving up this acquisition, we had the opportunity of making greenfield investments along all business lines. We haven't done this on any other market," Hamers told ZF in an interview.

ING explained it had three main reasons to withdraw from the race for BCR: the difficult global context, the fledgling Romanian retail market and a certain time pressure during the privatisation process.

Hamers states that had it bought BCR, ING would not have had the chance of developing its own business models, such as the Self'Banking one used for expansion on retail. "These are models we believe in, these are the future," he says.

Romania is one of the four markets, besides the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland, where ING is present with all its operations, from wholesale and retail banking to life insurance, pensions, asset management or leasing.

"Organic growth is more solid and easier to manage. In the case of an acquisition, one does not know what one is buying, but we would have surely gained market share," says Misu Negritoiu, who in 2006 became the first Romanian the Dutch appointed at the helm of the Romanian subsidiary, opened in 1994.

ING's strategic goal is to be a top five player on the Romanian market and the Dutch have already come to hold this position on certain market segments.

In late 2008, ING had 2.7bn-euro assets, placing it on the tenth position in the system, with a 3.5% share.

"Romania will always have at least five large banks, the market can accommodate them. We now have the capacity to boost our market share without an acquisition," Negritoiu says.