Foreign bank seeking luxury client, ensures discretion

ABN Amro, the eight-largest bank in Europe in terms of total assets, entered this client segment yesterday, with a new product, Preferred Banking, with an asset threshold of over €50,000. Erste Bank, has an asset threshold of €300,000, while Raiffeisen, Romania's third-largest lender in terms of assets, has a €40,000 threshold. ABN Amro plans to attract at least 300 local clients by year-end.

"Romanians using private banking services tend to become increasingly more sophisticated, even if most savings are initially transformed into common deposits. We gradually diversify the portfolio, and the risk is permanently monitored by the consultant," Monica Ionescu, Head of Private Banking at UniCredit Tiriac Bank, told Business Standard.