“At the moment, the budget does not include the acquisition of OTP in terms of loans or deposits or incorporating the business. When the closing is done and as we get more visibility in terms of development and planned integration of the OTP business with BT we will come before the shareholders with more detail and the approval for the integration of the OTP operations,” said George Calinescu, chief financial officer of Banca Transilvania, answering a question during a videoconference.
On February 9, Banca Transilvania announced officially the signing of the agreement to buy OTP Bank Romania (the bank and the leasing and asset management operations) for EUR347.5 million. This is its fourth banking acquisition in the past decade, after Volksbank, Bancpost and Idea Bank. The acquisition will take Banca Transilvania towards a 23%-24% market share, consolidating its position in the Romanian banking system.
“We hope to secure all the necessary approvals in this quarter, so we could focus on the integration process,” CEO Omer Tetik said adding the lender hoped to complete integration of the OTP Group – OTP Bank and the OTP Bank subsidiaries in Romania into BT entities in six to nine months.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)