National Bank of Greece entered into an agreement for the acquisition of a 81.6% stake in the share capital of Banca Romaneasca S.A. (BR) with Romanian American Enterprise Fund (RAEF), the major shareholder of the Romanian bank. The closing of the transaction is subject to the Bank of Greece's and the Romanian regulatory authorities' approvals.

National Bank's initiative is expected to enhance significantly the leading presence of the NBG Group in the area of southeast Europe; at the same time, it will allow it to strategically position itself in the fast-growing Romanian market. NBG has already established in Romania a brokerage company, an insurance company and a full banking branch which shall continue its operations to provide for the financial needs of the local market. The NBG Group already has a strong presence in 8 countries in the area of southeast Europe and east Mediterranean via 3 subsidiary banks, 5 subsidiary companies and a network of banking branches, totalling over 200 units with 4,000 employees and has assets of approximately euro 2.6 billion.

BR is a medium-sized Romanian bank with a presence in all major cities throughout the country, operates a 25-unit network and total assets of approximately euro140 million. BR focuses its credit activity mostly on the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises and has recently achieved growth in retail banking.

National Bank of Greece aims to expand BR's network to a total of 40 units in order to fully exploit the local market's potential. BR shall seek to achieve growth in all areas of banking business, but shall primarily focus on retail banking, which shows quite positive medium term prospects. Accordingly, National Bank is set to launch soon, via BR, a broad range of products and services already available by NBG in Greece and the rest of the countries in the region. BR's activities will also be further enhanced through synergies with other units of NBG's extensive international network, which, apart from South East Europe, has a significant presence in major financial centres worldwide, such as New York , London etc. Furthermore, BR is expected to derive significant benefits from the know-how and the overall support that NBG will extend to it in all areas of infrastructure and banking activities.