Banca Italo Romena late last week opened their first branch in Iasi and the twelfth in Romania. Attending the inauguration, President Franco Antiga commented that the city and county of Iasi offered excelled development prospects. "Both the city and the county of Iasi are achieving growth in agriculture, industry and tertiary sectors. We see here numerous metallurgical, pharmaceutical and textile companies, factories, foodstuff producers, vineyards and service providers, including banks. Given its strategic location, Iasi has attracted over 650 foreign companies and joint ventures, including 200 Italian companies," said Antiga, hoping that the bank would come to 20 branches by the end of 2008.
Banca Italo Romena was established in 1980 as a first Italian - Romanian joint venture in the banking sector. It was acquired by Veneto Banca in 2000 as part of a plan to support Italian businesspersons who were considering relocating their production units. In the meantime, Banca Italo Romena gradually opened to the rest of the market segments, including Romanian businesspersons, individuals and small businesses, while maintaining a distinct corporate touch. The bank is headquartered in Treviso and has branches in Alba Iulia, Arad, Bacau, Brasov, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Iasi, Oradea, Sibiu and Timisoara. At the end of H1,the bank posted a 60.2% increase in profit, from 3 million EUR in June 2006 to 4.9 million EUR in June 2007.