Marfin Bank: We want 1bn-euro assets by 2012

Cypriot-held Marfin Popular Bank, a financial group with 42 billion-euro assets and boasting one of the best performances in terms of capitalisation among players in the region, will see organic growth in Romania, having failed to find any acquisition opportunities.

"We are looking at acquisition opportunities, but we have not found anything interesting," Thimios Bouloutas, 49, CEO of the Marfin Popular Bank group told ZF, after a visit to Bucharest where he had meetings with the Romanian Prime Minister and central bank governor Mugur Isărescu.

Given that the alternative of expanding through acquisitions is not viable, at least for now, Bouloutas has set out new targets for the Bucharest bank.
"Organic growth will be basic for us. We have started a network expansion campaign, there will be five new branches in a first stage, and 40 new branches by December 2012. Assets will reach one billion euros," Bouloutas announces.

The bank had 27 branches and around 600 million euros in assets at the end of 2008. Amid the financial crisis that started in 2008, the bank suspended its expansion, and the problems recorded by the leasing company because of frauds prompted Marfin to post negative results in Romania in the past two years. In 2010 the bank reported a 7.6 million-euro profit, but the data published by the group reveal a consolidated loss (which also reflects the result of the leasing company) of 3 million euros, half the loss recorded in 2009. The bank's assets amounted to slightly more than 600 million euros at the end of last year.