Erste Asset Management, Raiffeisen AM, BRD AM, BT AM and NN Investment Partners (former ING Investment Management) are the top five mutual fund managers, which manage RON21.6 billion assets. In comparison, the top five lenders in Romania, BCR, BRD, Banca Transilvania, Raiffeisen and UniCredit account for 60% of the total banking system assets.
Erste AM is the market leader, with RON7.8 billion assets under management and is held by Austria’s Erste group, the owner of BCR, the largest bank in Romania. Raiffeisen AM ranks second, with RON6.6 billion assets, followed by BRD AM with RON2.8 billion assets.
Banking groups started growing faster on the asset management market in 2007, before the onset of the financial crisis, helped by their office networks where they mainly sold bond funds.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)