It was announced earlier in the month that Romanian authorities had approved the privatisation strategy of Romania’s largest bank, Banca Comerciala Romana, after a year of deferments. However, it is unlikely that further discussions relating to the privatisation programme will be occurring in the immediate future as, according to the bank’s chairman, Nicolae Dặnilặ, the first move will not be made unitil next spring.
Banca Comerciala Romana runs a factoring operation which, according to figures submitted to Factors’ Chain International, accounted for 10% of the total factored volume in Romania in 2000.
According to Mr. Dặnilặ, the privatisation commission of the Romanian Commercial Bank and the consultancy group led by Merrill Lynch, together with the finance ministry and the privatisation authority, will launch an offer next spring, aimed at probing investor interest in the bank.
