Founded in February 1994, in Cluj-Napoca, by a group of 46 Romanian entrepreneurs, Banca Transilvania (BVB: TLV) has grown into the biggest financial group in Romania and Southeast Europe, with over 4 million clients.

Launched with an initial investment of USD 2 million, Banca Transilvania now boasts a market capitalization of EUR 4 billion and 53,000 shareholders, which makes it one of the most valuable entrepreneurial stories in Romania.

As the group celebrated 30 years since its launch on February 16, Banca Transilvania chairman Horia Ciorcila, one of the 46 founders, and CEO Omet Tetik, who has been running its operations for over 10 years, issued a statement rememorating the bank’s evolution from a small team of 13 people in Cluj-Napoca to a national leader with over 500 units and 10,000 employees:

“Today is Banca Transilvania's day. Any anniversary makes us think about how the journey has been until now, what has been good and challenging, what has taken us so far, and especially how it all started, 30 years ago.

The bank was born thanks to 46 founders, mostly from Cluj, who put together a capital of USD 2 million.

The first customers were the very founders of the bank, but also families, friends, and neighbors. We started with a single unit, the Cluj Branch, and a team of 13 people, some of whom are still at BT today.

The most enterprising years

Romania in 1994 was quite gray. It was a few years after the Revolution, and we only dreamed of the European Union. Democracy and the Romanian capital were at the beginning. Banking was completely different, it was only about loans and deposits because even cards and ATMs appeared later. But there were also many opportunities because the economy and the country were in full transition from the centralized system - where everything was owned by the State - to a decentralized model based on private property.

These 30 years meant the biggest transformations for Romania - in the economy, technology, lifestyle, standard of living, and financial education - and all of these were related to banking, which contributed essentially to the change. For Banca Transilvania, the period was an opportunity, but also a challenge to keep up with all the changes in society. Then, the EU brought a new breath, with free markets and financing that contributed to the development of the country, raising the standard of living, but also increasing competition, including among banks. In other words, BT grew up in a period that means the most enterprising years in Romania's history.

From 15,000 customers to over 4 million

There were many ideas and achievements during all these years, which wrote the history of the bank: the expansion in Romania (in 1994 we had 5 units), the listing on the stock exchange, the constant increase in the number of clients (in 1994, about 15,000 clients worked with us). This was followed by the adaptation of the business strategy to the economic context following the financial crisis of 2008. In the last ten years, we have accelerated growth as a financial group through bank acquisitions and technology investments, which have validated our current business model, based on large volumes.

Courage, confidence, and optimism

BT's success story is largely based on courage, confidence, and optimism. It is important to say that in the first 21 years of its existence, the bank granted dividends to shareholders only in two years, in 1998 and 2009, otherwise capitalizing the entire profit to develop and get here.

Banca Transilvania had that entrepreneurial spirit that gave us the impetus to take the step towards the capital market, to be the first bank listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. In addition, we are one of the companies that qualified Romania for emerging market status a few years ago. Going public gave us growth opportunities, helped us attract resources, and gave us the infrastructure that made us a company with over 53,000 shareholders. We have also been among the most traded stocks on the main market for many years. As a local bank, we always could act quickly and constantly optimize our business model. There were key moments and reinventions.

Romania is our geography

This is how we became the largest financier of the economy, but also the largest bank in the country and South-Eastern Europe, with a 21% market share, over 4 million customers, 10,000 employees, over 500 offices, and solutions state-of-the-art online banking. We support over 400,000 entrepreneurs - from large companies, SMEs to start-ups. We are one of the largest employers in Romania and we contribute annually approximately 1% of the profit tax paid by all companies in our country.

With the same confidence, we look to what comes next

We will be here to support the development of the country and the economy, to contribute to the growth of entrepreneurial culture, people's prosperity, and financial inclusion. We are aware of the role we have in Romania, we have big plans for the future.

We are grateful to the founders, shareholders, customers, and team of yesterday and today for their contribution to one of the most beautiful stories in Romanian entrepreneurship, Banca Transilvania.”

editor@romania-insider.com