Erste targets leadership on the local mutual fund market

Austrian group Erste, owner of the largest local bank, Banca Comercialã Romanã (BCR), is to launch 20 mutual funds on the Romanian market through its Erste Sparinvest subsidiary. 

The financial group aims to further increase to 30 funds, of which 10 are to be administered by BCR Asset Management, BCR’s subsidiary for capital markets. Erste could thus become a leader on the mutual fund market.

The first six funds to be launched by Erste Sparinvest will have placements on global share markets, on emerging markets in Europe and other countries, and on the world’s major fixed income instrument markets, according to Erste Sparinvest’s Senior Manager for Central and Eastern Europe, Guenther Mandl. 

Mandl declined to provide more details, as Erste Sparinvest is still working on papers to be submitted to the National Securities Commission (CNVM). More than 60 percent of assets owned by funds operating in Romania, totaling €250 million, are administered by specialized units of the largest local banks. BCR Asset Management ranks fifth, with assets exceeding €30 mln. Other main players on the market are Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) and Société Générale Asset Management.

The Erste group administers assets worth €38.3 billion, of which €7 bln in Austria, and the remainder in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Romania. It has a 22 percent market share in Central and Eastern Europe.