Banca Comercială Română

Banca Comercială Română (BCR) is a Romanian universal bank. It is one of the main banks in Romania and is a subsidiary of Erste Group.^[1]

Banca Comercială Română

Company type	Subsidiary
Founded	1990; 35 years ago (1990)
Headquarters	Bucharest , Romania
Key people	Sergiu Manea (Chief Executive Officer)
Products	Commercial banking, Investment banking, Private banking,
Total assets	€ 17 billion EUR (2012)
Number of employees	10,000 (2016)
Parent	Erste Group
Website	www.bcr.ro, www.bcr.md

Self-bank area within a BCR branch

It provides retail, corporate & investment banking, treasury and capital markets services as well as operating specialized companies on the leasing market, assets management, private pensions, mortgages and banking services through internet and mobile phone. As of 2016^[update], it was the largest bank in Romania with assets of over EUR 16 billion, the largest number of clients.^[2]

History

The original BCR logo used from 1992 to 2007

The BCR - Erste Bank Group logo used from 2007 until 2016

The BCR headquarters in Bucharest

• 1990 – Banca Comercială Română is established by taking over the commercial operations of the National Bank of Romania
• 1998 – BCR opens a subsidiary in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova
• 1999 – BCR absorbs Bancorex
• 2001 – BCR Leasing is launched on the Romanian market
• 2003 – BCR privatization by selling the block of shares to EBRD and IFC
• 2005 – BCR Asigurari de Viata is established
• 2006 – Austrian bank Erste Bank finalizes the acquisition of Banca Comercială Română. Erste Bank bought 61.8825%* of the BCR shares from the Romanian Government, EBRD and IFC, paying EUR 3.75 billion.
• 2007 – BCR Administrare Fond de Pensii enters the Romanian market
• 2008 – Banca Comercială Română sells its insurance operations to Vienna Insurance Group
• 2008 – BCR Banca pentru Locuinte enters the Romanian market
• 2009 – BCR adopts a Medium Term Notes (MTN) issuing program – with a total value of EUR 3 billion.

Over time, BCR has brought several innovations on the Romanian banking market, such as:

• 1994 - BCR becomes the first acquirer in Romania and main member of EUROPAY
• 1995 - BCR issues the first debit cards in Romania under an international logo.

o first transaction at an ATM in Romania

• 2000 - BCR launches the first treasury loan for individuals

o BCR is the first bank in Romania to trade securities on the secondary market

• 2002 - BCR launches the first mortgage loan on the Romanian banking market
• 2003 - BCR is the first Romanian bank to provide mortgage loans to retail and corporate clients
• 2004 - BCR is the first bank in Romania to install Currency Exchange Machines (CEM)
• 2005 - BCR enables the use of CHIP cards (smart-card) in its ATM and POS network
• 2006 – Banca Comercială Română launches for the first time, through the BCR University, the internship program – STUDENT BCR – allowing students to take internships in seven BCR branches in Bucharest

o BCR is the first banking institution in Romania to launch a national network of specialized offices – “EU Office BCR” – dedicated exclusively to European funds.^[3]

BCR Group

good.bee Service RO company offering good.bee Mobile Transaction service, was established through a partnership between Erste Foundation and Erste Group.^[4]