Romania

HVB Bank Romania is one of the most successful foreign banks in Romania, offering innovative, customised financial services for both corporate and retail customers. Over 27,000 customers are served through twelve branches.

With a return on equity of 56% our Romanian subsidiary is the most profitable bank in the BA-CA Group network. The excellent net income before taxes of € 24 m was almost double the figure for 2003. Over half this amount was generated by corporate customer business. Major contributions to this result were made by higher net interest income (up by 83% to € 28.9 m) resulting from higher business volume, and by a 57% increase in fee and commission income to € 13.5 m, which reflects growth in fees generated by lending business and payment services. General administrative expenses grew in line with business expansion but the cost/income ratio was reduced from 43% to 38% due to the good performance. Total assets doubled within twelve months to more than € 1 bn.

HVB Bank Romania received several prestigious awards, including “Best International Bank in Romania 2004” and “Best International Bank in South East Europe by Return on Equity in 2004” from Finance Central Europe. Bucharest Business Week, one of Romania’s best-known business magazines, awarded HVB Bank Romania the title “Best in Corporate Banking 2004”.

Business structure and development
In corporate customer business our Romanian subsidiary further strengthened its leading position. The number of corporate customers increased considerably. Many of the major transactions in the region were carried out by HVB Bank Romania. These included financing and syndication for Rompetrol (USD 85 m), the Romanian National Railways (USD 130 m), Tuborg Romania (USD 50 m) or Plaza Romania (€ 45 m), Romania’s most modern shopping centre.

There was further expansion in export finance, trade finance, project finance, real estate finance and particularly in structured finance, due mainly to the extremely high economic growth of over 8% in 2004. Compared with 2003, loans increased by over 70%.

In 2004 retail customer business was further expanded. Four new branches were opened and mobile sales units set up. One highlight was the new Unirea branch in Romania’s largest shopping centre: in addition to customer-friendly opening hours – it is also open on Saturdays – the branch has an Internet corner for OnlineB@nking transactions. The range of retail banking products was considerably enlarged: HVB Bank Romania is one of the first banks in Romania to offer telephone and online banking services. Additional innovative personal loan and savings products were added to our product range. In private banking for high-net worth individuals we use the “one stop shop” principle: our Private Banking Service takes care of all the customer’s financial affairs.