Romania’s banking system in 2025 registered a total of 29 credit institutions, decreasing from 32 in the previous year due to mergers and insolvencies, and saw a growth in total assets to nearly 957.37 billion lei, reflecting an 8.6% increase from 2024. The sector’s assets grew at a slower pace compared to previous years, where the increases were 14.6% in 2023 and 9.8% in 2024.

Market share and bank rankings

Banca Transilvania maintained the largest market share with 21.98% of total assets. BCR was second with 13.81%, followed by CEC Bank at 11.24%. UniCredit Bank ranked fourth with a 10.76% share of system assets.

In the second tier, BRD held 9.97%, and Raiffeisen Bank was at 9.26%. After the acquisition of Garanti Bank, which holds 2.15% of the market and was the eighth-largest bank in 2025, Raiffeisen Bank might surpass BRD to become the third-largest, based on asset size. Exim Bank had a 3.07% market share, ranking below Raiffeisen.

Institutional changes in 2025

Several mergers, acquisitions, and closures occurred during the year:

– In January, Credit Europe Bank (Romania) merged cross-border with its parent, Credit Europe Bank N.V., which continued operations in Romania through its Amsterdam branch, renamed Nexent Bank N.V. in July.
– Banca de Investiții și Dezvoltare S.A. was registered as a development bank in January and began operations on July 14.
– In February, OTP Bank Romania was absorbed into Banca Transilvania, with the merger initiated in 2024.
– Aedificium Banca pentru Locuințe ceased activity in June and began voluntary liquidation.
– In August, Alpha Bank Romania was merged into UniCredit Bank, with the process finalized in November 2024.
– In October, First Bank was absorbed by Banca Comercială Intesa Sanpaolo România, following its acquisition by Intesa Sanpaolo in May 2024.
– During 2025, the Romanian branch of PKO Bank Polski began operations under the name PKO Bank Polski S.A. Varșovia, Sucursala București.

Ownership structure and market composition

Foreign-capital banks, including foreign branches, increased their share of the Romanian banking system from 62.4% to 63.2%. This growth is attributed to consolidations and the opening of two new branches in 2025. Conversely, banks with majority Romanian private capital saw their share decline from 23.3% to 22.5%. State-owned banks retained a consistent share of 14.3%.

The share of Romanian banks by capital size continued its upward trend, rising from 51.6% at the end of 2024 to 57.4% at the end of 2025.

Financial performance of the National Bank of Romania

The NBR reported a profit of 2.35 billion lei for 2025, exceeding forecasts but declining from a record 3.8 billion lei in 2024. The actual profit surpassed the projected figure of 2.04 billion lei by 308 million lei, reaching a realization rate of 115.1%.

From this profit, the NBR remitted 1.88 billion lei to the state budget, representing 80% of its net income, as stipulated by law.