HVB Bank Romania, the seventh leading bank in the system in terms of assets, has reached the conclusion that the only option available to it if it wants to develop on the retail service market is to buy another bank. "We are one of the strongest banks on the corporate sector, but our network is our weakness. In a market like Romania, it is hard to grow organically and to attain critical mass in retail, so the only option is to buy," Dan Pascariu, HVB Romania president, told a news conference called for the presentation of the bank's 2004 financial results. He says the smallest acquisition HVB would make in Romania would be a bank with a similar market share to its own. At the end of last year HVB accounted for 4.63% of the total assets in the banking system, little more than one billion euros, representing a 1.23% growth on 2003. The only other banks close to this and not yet backed by powerful foreign shareholders are Banca Transilvania, which climbed to tenth position on the market with a 2.9% market share, and Banca Tiriac. ZF
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