Dutch financial group ING will continue to invest in Romania, focusing more on the retail and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) segments. The group wants to prepare for the next growth cycle of the Romanian economy and of the banking sector and has the opportunity to gain market share without being dragged back by non-performing loans, said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group, quoted by Mediafax.

“Romania is a good country for us, and there is still potential for growth here. Is we don’t prepare for the period when growth will recover, we will lose the opportunities that will appear,” Hamers said.

He came to Bucharest to celebrate 20 years since the Dutch group entered the Romanian market. Hamers also managed ING’s subsidiary in Romania between 1999 and 2002. He said that Romania is currently looking much better than when he was working here and that ING Bank Romania is a much larger bank. ING was the seventh largest bank in Romania, at the end of June this year, with EUR 6.5 billion assets and a 5.2% market share. The bank had a gross profit of EUR 48 million in 2013.

editor@romania-insider.com