Alpha and Eurobank, the Greek groups that control the two banks, decided to merge so as to consolidate their positions weakened by the crisis. The process should be completed by the end of the year.
The local branches, however, are supposed to merge in 2012.
The National Bank of Romania expects to get the merger brief in January or February next year, once the legal merger procedures have been completed in Greece.
The Competition Council approved the merger of Alpha and Bancpost at the end of November after finding that the process would not create a dominant position for the new bank and as such would not hinder competition on any way.
The merger between the parent banks in Athens is now going through the second round of evaluation by the competition watchdog. The operations targeted in this phase are card issuing, factoring and mutual fund management.
The new bank created by the local subsidiaries will be the third largest in the system, with a market share of 9.2% by assets, according to the latest data available about the assets managed by Alpha and Bancpost. The two banks ranked eighth and ninth by assets managed in midyear.
The absorption of Eurobank by Alpha will create the largest bank on their home market, leaving the National Bank of Greece (NBG) behind. There were talks about a potential Alpha-NBG merger early this year, which fell through because shareholders could not agree on details.
The local branches of Alpha Bank and EFG Eurobank had EUR6.7 billion loans granted together at the end of September, down from the EUR6.92 billion in December 2010, according to the data published by the two groups.
Alpha Bank loan volume shrank by EUR220 million, to EUR3.4 billion, mainly because of the significant decline in consumer loans. Bancpost saw loans decrease by only EUR20 million, to EUR3.3 billion. The decline in loan portfolio and the non-performing loan troubles affected the results of the two local subsidiaries of Greek banks. Alpha made EUR8.3 million gross profit in the first nine months, down 80%, while Eurobank posted EUR7 million losses. The two banks also saw deposits made by customers go down to EUR3.11 billion. Cumulated deposits stood at EUR3.46 billion in December last year.
The decline in deposit volume was worse for Alpha, as Bancpost had EUR1.27 billion in deposits compared with EUR1.6 billion at the end of 2010. The two banks lost deposits despite being among the most generous banks in terms of interests over the last two years.
The networks of the two banks went through adjustments, as well. Bancpost closed 21 branches and offices this year. All of them were actually closed in the third quarter so that the bank kept 279 offices at the end of September.
Alpha Bank too closed 10 branches in the first nine months of the year so that it now has 165 left. The number of Alpha employees dropped, as well, from 2,500 people last December to 2,400 in September.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)