„The Russians proposed Volksbank International to leave the Romanian branch out (of the deal), because it’s Volksbank’s largest branch in the region and, per EU regulations, they would have been required to consolidate their European operations in Romania,” the mentioned people said.
They said Romania’s central bank would have been Sberbank’s main supervisory authority in the Central and Eastern Europe.
According to the sources, Sberbank representatives met with officials of Volksbank Romania and central bank governor Mugur Isarescu before making a decision regarding the Romanian bank.
Sberbank is in talks with Volksbank to acquire its international assets in the CEE region.
Volksbank International operates in nine CEE states, namely Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Ukraine.
End-2010, Volksbank International reported total assets in Romania of EUR4.8 billion.