At least two banks operating on the Romanian market could be taken over this year, said Radu Dumitrescu, partner in the transaction support department at Deloitte Romania.

The banks could be acquired either by players that are already active in the local market or by new investors. Both options are possible, according to Dumitrescu, reports local Economica.net.

Romania is also one of the most active markets in the region for transactions with bad loan portfolios, the Deloitte representative said. In 2016, the volume of non-performing loans traded in Romania amounted to EUR 1.5-2 billion. In 2017, the value is expected to remain the same.

Bad loans sell for 5% to 20% of the portfolio’s nominal value depending the asset quality. The value of bad loans in Romania currently stands at about EUR 6.4 billion, of which EUR 4.8 billion represent corporate loans and EUR 1.6 billion are residential and consumer loans.

editor@romania-insider.com