The Romanian branch of the Anglo Romanian Bank Limited (ARBL) ceased its banking commercial activities and the provision of services to its customers, starting with June 30, 2011, according to the institution. All the bank's properties were transferred directly to Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), which also took over the intangible assets and the operational infrastructure, including the software.

The Anglo Romanian Bank was registered in 1973 in London as a consortium between Barclays Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Romania, through the Romanian Bank for Foreign Trade, and worked for over 30 years under British license. In 1998 Bancorex became the 100 percent shareholder of ARBL, while in September 1999, Banca Comerciala Romana became the only shareholder of ARBL.

The Anglo-Romanian Bank started to record losses in 2009 when reported a minus of EUR 3.5 million. In 2010 the bank also had losses of EUR 2.6 million, while the operating profit before provisions was only EUR 684 million, almost 80 percent lower than the 2009 level.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Erstegroup.com)