Bank of Cyprus Romania first opened the doors to its customers on July 24th, 2007, with the inauguration of Dorobanti Head Office.
During its first year of activity, the Bank of Cyprus has managed to create a strong portfolio of corporate clientele by financing important investment projects and companies, and also penetrated selectively the retail area by opening 4 branches in Bucharest and 1 in Constanta. The latest one in the capital has been the Mosilor branch, which was launched on July 21st, 2008. It will be soon followed by Militari branch, to be opened in the first week of August.
Bank of Cyprus aims to capitalize on three competitive advantages:
-
on existing customer base through Greek and Cyprus clientele
-
on operational synergies with Greece and Cyprus
-
on the successful Greece greenfield experience
BoC's plan for the end of 2008 is to reach at least 10 branches and to create full retail infrastructure. In this respect the Bank is being developing a range of products and services which the clients could access easily and operate efficiently, with flexible and competitive terms. The Bank is currently promoting 2 new products: the Deposit in Euro TOT INAINTE - the first product in Romania with annual yield of 6% and interest paid in advance, and YOUR DREAM VACATION - a loan with 9% /EURO interest rate for the first year, 11,67% APR for the entire period of lending, and 0 penalties for early repayment.
In July Bank of Cyprus has launched the Online Banking service, while the first card issued under Visa logo will be available in short time.
Commenting upon the business environment in Romania, the General Manager of Bank of Cyprus Romania George Christoforou says: "The competition on the Romanian market is pretty tough; most of the players are emerging from worldwide strong financial groups which have already achieved a successful presence here. Romania therefore represents a very challenging and in the same time complex and difficult market for a newcomer". "An important contribution to the success and recognition of Bank of Cyprus in Romania had the Greek experience, where in a very competitive and conservative market, the Bank achieved an outstanding position in the last 16 years" added the Bank's General Manager.
Speaking about the identity of Bank of Cyprus in Romania, Mr.Christoforou declared: "I say that we have made our choice: we are a small, beautiful and flexible Bank. We can fight in this market with quality of service, flexibility and transparency. This is what we have chosen to be! I claim that so far we have made some pretty good moves following this very route of our choice".
The strategic plan of Bank of Cyprus Romania anticipates the network expansion to reach 40 branches by the end of 2010 and the gradual expansion in at least twelve other major cities by that time.
The loan portfolio from loans granted by the local branch or directly by the Bank's Head Quarters is expected to reach EUR 1,5 bn by the end of 2010. Today this portfolio is over EUR 425 mln and profits contributed on a consolidated basis have been approximately EUR 1,5 mln for H1/2008.