THE STRUCTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE BANKING SYSTEM IN ROMANIA UNDER THE IMPACT OF FDI

Foreign banks represent important channels for the transfer of productive resources, managerial and organizational skills and experience accumulated on international level, which led to increased competition in the banking market in Romania, which contributed to some extent to the profitability of the Romanian banking sector. The purpose of the current attempt of research is the analysis of the structural evolution of the banking sector in Romania, under the impact of foreign direct investments (FDI). Analyzing the structural evolution of the Romanian banking sector, there can be observed that in 2015, FDI has influenced some important merger operations on a level with branches of foreign banks in Romania, and over 85% of the total capital of the banking system in our country belongs to credit institutions with foreign majority ownership and to their branches. Regarding the origin of the foreign capital of credit institutions, it originates from the member states of the European Union (EU). It is also worthy of note that in 2015, the top ten banks in the banking sector of Romania held 71.6% of the assets, while the remaining 26 banks held a share of only 28.4% of the market. Banca Comercială Română, BRD - Groupe Société Générale and Banca Transilvania are in 2015 the main banks in the Romanian banking system, with a major market share.