Italian global group UniCredit and Alpha Services and Holdings of Greece have announced the merger of their Romanian subsidiaries that will lead to the creation of the third largest bank in Romania by total assets, UniCredit announced on October 23.

“This is the first acquisition that UniCredit has made in 15 years, signalling the inherent potential that we, as a business, see in Romania and in the Central and Eastern Europe region. The opportunity offered by this merger is significant not only to our current and future clients but also to the employees of both institutions,” said Andrea Orcel, CEO of UniCredit Group.

After the merger, UniCredit will rank third after Banca Transilvania (20% market share at end-2022) and Erste Bank’s local subsidiary BCR (nearly 14%), but above Societe Generale’s subsidiary BRD (10.5%).

The merger is cementing UniCredit’s presence in Romania’s “key growth market”, with Alpha Bank retaining a 9.9% stake, the Itali...