Romania's largest lender Banca Comercială Română (BCR) saw a big hike in its factoring business last year. BCR's factoring transactions totaled almost EUR 530 million, representing an increase of 45 percent on 2011.

Factoring is essentially cashing-in on invoices by selling them to a third party for a reduced rate and thus receiving money owed more quickly. BCR has seen a huge surge in popularity across its range of factoring services. “2012 was a year in which we registered significant developments both in terms of new business volumes and in the number of clients who use the factoring services,” said BCR's Deputy Executive Director of Transaction Banking Valentin Galatanu.

BCR's without recourse factoring recorded the biggest growth with number of clients increasing by more than 100 percent on 2011. Galatanu said he saw potential for further growth and that BCR will develop new products and services. BCR operates foreign and domestic factoring services, with and without recourse. The bank started factoring services in 1999 and is a member of the organization Factors Chain International.

BCR is the largest lender in Romania by assets. The group’s total assets declined by 0.5 percent, to some EUR 16.8 billion, but still cover some 20 percent of the Romanian banking market. BCR representatives have said that they expect the bank to return to profitability in 2013.

Austrian Erste Group owns Romania’s Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), the largest local lender by assets. Erste Group was founded in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank. The group employs more than 50,000 people and has 17 million clients across the region. Erste Group operates over 3,000 branches in eight countries – Austria, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and the Ukraine.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: BCR)