According to a Wall-Street.ro calculation from BNR data, after the merger with OTP, BT, a Romanian bank founded in Cluj in 1993, holds about 23% of the system's assets.
CEC Bank, founded in 1864 and wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance, is Romania's third largest bank. The state has not left banking.
According to Eurostat, in 2025 household debt in Romania was 12.4% of GDP, against 49.2% on the EU average.
According to PwC, at the end of 2025 the exchange's value passed about €100 billion (537.7 billion lei) for the first time. That is 27.7% of GDP, leaving it room to grow.
In July 2023 Fondul Proprietatea sold its entire 19.94% of Hidroelectrica for 9.28 billion lei, the largest listing in the exchange's history.
Romania's finance: the short answer
Before 1990 every bank in Romania belonged to the state, and there was no stock exchange. Today the largest bank in the country is Banca Transilvania, a private Romanian bank founded in Cluj in 1993, and based on a calculation from BNR data it holds about 23% of the system's assets. Behind it stand BCR of Austria's Erste group, the state-owned CEC Bank, and UniCredit, BRD and Raiffeisen. At the end of 2025 the Bucharest Stock Exchange passed a value of about €100 billion for the first time, and it has been in FTSE Russell's "Secondary Emerging" category since September 2020.
And it has plenty of room left to grow. Romania is the EU country where households owe the least: according to Eurostat, 12.4% of GDP in 2025, against 49.2% on the EU average. That is a sign of a conservative market, and of a credit market still at the start of its journey. The stock exchange too, which has grown fast, is worth 27.7% of GDP today, according to PwC.
In plain words: Romania's financial system has moved from closed state banking to a modern, open market, with a local bank on top. It is still small relative to the economy, so it has a lot of room to grow. The state still owns one large bank.
Who owns the banks
According to a table by Wall-Street.ro from August 2025, calculated from BNR data for the end of 2024 and the 2025 mergers, total bank assets in Romania stood at 881 billion lei. This is the ranking:
| Rank | Bank | Ownership | Share of assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Banca Transilvania | Romanian private, listed | About 23% |
| 2 | BCR | Erste group (Austria) | 13.69% |
| 3 | CEC Bank | The state (Ministry of Finance) | 11.27% |
| 4 | UniCredit Bank | UniCredit group (Italy) | About 11% |
| 5 | BRD | Société Générale (France) | 9.75% |
| 6 | Raiffeisen Bank | Raiffeisen group (Austria) | 9.31% |
| 7 | ING Bank | ING (Netherlands) | 8.85% |
Note two things. First, the biggest bank is Romanian, not Western. Second, the state has not left entirely: CEC Bank, founded in 1864 and wholly owned by the Ministry of Finance, is the third largest. Exim Banca Românească, in eighth place, is also a state bank: according to the bank, the Ministry of Finance holds about 99.56% of it.
According to the same table, the number of banks fell in 2025 from 33 to 30, after three mergers: Banca Transilvania with OTP Bank Romania, UniCredit with Alpha Bank Romania, and Intesa Sanpaolo with First Bank.
Banca Transilvania: the bank that bought its rivals
BT was founded in 1993 in Cluj-Napoca. It built most of its size over the past decade through acquisitions:
- Volksbank România (2015).
- Bancpost (2018).
- Idea Bank, which became Salt Bank, the group's digital bank.
- OTP Bank Romania. The agreement was signed in February 2024, for about €347.5 million, and the merger was completed at the start of 2025.
According to the financial report BT filed with the stock exchange, on 30 September 2025 the group's assets stood at 213.2 billion lei. According to The Diplomat, based on the annual report, BT ended 2025 with almost 5 million active customers and a mortgage book of 24.9 billion lei. According to PwC, in 2025 BT shares alone accounted for 28% of turnover on the exchange's main market.
BNR and the leu: high interest and a currency that moves
The central bank, BNR, held its rate at 6.50% on 8 October 2026. According to the bank's statement, annual inflation fell from 8.16% in July to 6.17% in August 2026, but BNR expects it to rise again by the end of the year, partly because of energy prices, drought and the leu exchange rate.
The leu is not fixed against the euro. According to the European Central Bank's reference rate, on 22 October 2026 one euro was worth 5.3450 lei. BNR publishes its own daily rate, and the rate moves. About 20 years ago, on 1 July 2005, Romania removed four zeros from its currency: 10,000 old lei became one new leu. In an interview with Wall-Street.ro, BNR board member Cristian Popa described this as the end of an inflationary era.
Today's system was built from dismantling the old one, from mergers, foreign banks and EU rules.
What this means for a mortgage: interest on loans in lei is linked to local market indices. We set this out in our article on IRCC and ROBOR and in our article on a mortgage in lei or euros.
The mortgage market: small, but growing
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Household debt as a share of GDP, 2025 | 12.4% in Romania, 49.2% in the EU. The lowest in the EU | Eurostat |
| Stock of housing loans, 2025 | 117.3 billion lei (100.7 billion in 2021) | Storia analysis of BNR data |
| New housing loans and refinancing, 2025 | 58.2 billion lei | Storia analysis of BNR data |
| Growth in housing credit, December 2025 | 6.5% year on year | BNR annual report, per Forbes România |
| Share of lei in housing finance | 90.8% | BNR annual report, per Forbes România |
| All credit to the private sector, June 2026 | 473.7 billion lei, 8.4% more than a year earlier | BNR, per Agerpres |
The gap between new loans (58.2 billion) and the growth in the stock reflects the fact that a large part of the activity is refinancing of existing loans, according to the same analysis. We set out the country's credit rating and its link to interest rates in our article on Romania's credit rating.
The Bucharest Stock Exchange: from "frontier" to emerging, in part
The Bucharest Stock Exchange marked 30 years of activity in 2025. Its three milestones of recent years:
- FTSE Russell, September 2020. In September 2019 FTSE Russell announced that Romania would move up from "Frontier" to "Secondary Emerging", and the change took effect in September 2020.
- MSCI, June 2025. MSCI still classifies Romania as a frontier market, but on 19 June 2025 it moved it into a new category, "Advanced Frontier", together with Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. According to the exchange, the reason Romania is not yet an "emerging market" at MSCI is size and liquidity, not investor access.
- €100 billion, end of 2025. According to PwC, the value of the main market and the secondary market together reached 537.7 billion lei, about €100 billion, for the first time. The number of active private investors rose from about 226,000 at the end of 2024 to more than 285,000 at the end of 2025.
According to PwC, the main structural obstacle remaining on the way to FTSE's next tier is the lack of a central counterparty for equities.
The big listings
| Listing | Year | Size | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hidroelectrica | 2023 | 9.28 billion lei (€1.87 billion) | Fondul Proprietatea sold its entire 19.94% |
| Electrica | 2014 | 1.95 billion lei (about €444 million) | Privatisation through the capital market, in Bucharest and London |
| Electro-Alfa International | 2026 | 579.6 million lei | According to PwC |
| Cris-Tim Family Holding | 2025 | 454 million lei | According to PwC |
According to the exchange, the Hidroelectrica listing in July 2023 was the largest in the exchange's history, and the largest in Europe that year up to that point. Private investors placed almost 52,000 orders in it.
Fondul Proprietatea: the fund born of restitution
Fondul Proprietatea was set up in November 2005, under Law 247/2005, to compensate in shares people whose property was nationalised in the communist era. For years it held minority stakes in large state companies, including Hidroelectrica. Since 2010 it has been managed by Franklin Templeton. On 23 September 2026 Franklin Templeton announced that it was withdrawing its candidacy in the process to select a new manager, after a dispute over the scoring method. At the time of writing, no announcement of a new manager had been published. We set out the story of restitution itself in our article on nationalisation and restitution.
Fintech: the big bank in your pocket
- Revolut. According to Finance Magnates, in October 2026 Revolut passed 5 million registered private customers in Romania, not all of them active. It operates through a branch of the Lithuanian Revolut Bank UAB. According to the company, 77% of card payments by Romanian customers are made at merchants inside Romania.
- Salt Bank. The BT group's digital bank. According to its board report, at the end of 2025 it had more than 742,000 customers.
These numbers show that many Romanians are open to digital banking. If you need a local bank account as a non-resident, see our guide to opening a bank account in Romania.
Then and now: from the state's bank to the bank from Cluj
| 1989 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the banks | The state only: BNR, BRCE (later Bancorex), Banca Agricolă, BRD and CEC | Mainly private. Romanian BT on top, Western groups behind it, state-owned CEC and Exim |
| The central bank | Also a commercial bank | An independent BNR. Its commercial business moved to BCR in 1990 |
| Stock exchange | None | About €100 billion, 331 companies, "Secondary Emerging" at FTSE |
| The currency | The old leu (ROL) | The new leu (RON) since 2005, about 5.35 to the euro, a floating rate |
The transition was not smooth. According to Răsvan Radu, a veteran senior banker, the state-owned Bancorex collapsed at the end of the 1990s, and the decision to close it was "a political decision, not a business one". According to BCR, it was absorbed into BCR in 1999. In 2006 Erste bought about 61.9% of BCR from the state, the EBRD and the IFC for €3.75 billion. BRD went to Société Générale, and Banca Agricolă was bought by Raiffeisen.
Frequently asked questions
What is the largest bank in Romania?
Banca Transilvania. According to a Wall-Street.ro calculation from BNR data, after the merger with OTP it holds about 23% of bank assets. Behind it come BCR and CEC Bank.
Is the Bucharest Stock Exchange an "emerging market"?
At FTSE Russell, yes, at the "Secondary Emerging" tier since September 2020. At MSCI, not yet: since June 2025 it has been an "Advanced Frontier" market.
Does the state still own banks?
Yes. CEC Bank, the third largest, belongs to the Ministry of Finance, and Exim Banca Românească is also a state bank.
Why is household debt in Romania so low?
According to Eurostat, in 2025 it was 12.4% of GDP, the lowest in the EU. The figure does not explain itself. Possible explanations are that many people received their flat in the 1990s, when the state sold flats to their tenants, and caution after the 2008 crisis. These are interpretations, not a measured finding.
What is the leu exchange rate against the euro?
On 22 October 2026, according to the European Central Bank's reference rate, 5.3450 lei to the euro. The rate changes every day, and BNR publishes its own rate.
The bottom line
Romania has moved from state banking with no stock exchange to an open, modern system, and its largest bank is a Romanian enterprise from Cluj, not a branch of a Western bank. The system is still small relative to the economy: little household credit, a stock exchange worth 27.7% of GDP, and "Advanced Frontier" status at MSCI. That is also what marks the road ahead. Today's system was built from dismantling the old one, from mergers, foreign banks and EU rules, and it keeps growing.
Moti Azulay, Compass Group Romania
Sources: Wall-Street.ro, bank ranking after the mergers, 28.8.2025 · Banca Transilvania, report of 30.9.2025 (BVB) · The Diplomat, BT results for 2025 · Banca Transilvania, Wikipedia · CEC Bank, Wikipedia · Exim Banca Românească, ownership structure · BCR, history · Ziarul Financiar, 30 years of the banking system · Financial Intelligence, BNR decision of 8.10.2026 · ECB, reference rates · Wall-Street.ro, interview with Cristian Popa, 11.4.2026 · Eurostat, household debt (tipspd22) · HotNews, Storia analysis of housing loans, 30.4.2026 · Forbes România, BNR annual report · Economica, credit in June 2026 · HotNews, FTSE Russell decision, 27.9.2019 · Bucharest Stock Exchange, MSCI announcement, 25.6.2025 · Economica, PwC report on the stock exchange, 28.7.2026 · Forbes România, PwC report · Bucharest Stock Exchange, Hidroelectrica IPO, 12.7.2023 · Energynomics, Electrica IPO, 27.6.2014 · Fondul Proprietatea, Wikipedia · Fondul Proprietatea, filing of 23.9.2026 (BVB) · Finance Magnates, Revolut in Romania, 1.10.2026 · Salt Bank, board report for 2025
This article is for general information only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The market share figures are based on end-2024 assets and a calculation of the mergers, and the leu exchange rate changes from day to day. Correct as of 23 October 2026.
Forget the dictatorship economy
- Forget the dictatorship economy: the new Romania
- Who earns what in Romania today
- Agriculture: Europe's breadbasket
- Finance: banks, the stock exchange and money (you are here)
- Tech: from UiPath to Bitdefender
- Food and wine
- Culture: festivals, film and music
- Abundance: malls, consumption and brands
- Western brands: consulting, accounting and hotels
- What drives growth: EU funds versus investment
- From dictatorship to market economy: what remained and what was built
Now you know more.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult local professionals before any transaction.
