The first president of the National Bank, Leonid Talmac, was known to be an opponent of the rapid entry of foreign banking organizations, institutional investors into the Moldovan market, thus giving time for the Moldovan banking system to get stronger. He wanted to allow local businesses to stand on their feet, to rise in value, to somehow resist the Western millions. And yet, today, only one commercial bank in Moldova with a market share of about 4% remains completely local, controlled by Moldovan business. The other nine commercial banks have long been owned by foreign shareholders and controlled by foreign capital.
If we take into account the popular opinion that the banking system is the circulatory system of the economy, foreign blood flows in ours. Despite all the existing risks in Moldova, our banking system is profitable, and in this sense – attractive for investors. And the risks are minimized by the fact that Moldova has joined the Basel III standards. Their observance ensures absolute fulfillment by banks of a number of requirements, which provide an almost complete guarantee of safety of investments in the banking sector and their immediate return in case of any force majeure situation.
Therefore, every year the question arises: is the Moldovan banking system earning too much, given the collapse of the economy? The opposition even proposed to increase the tax on the banking sector’s profit, but for many reasons, this will not be done.
How profitable is the Moldovan banking system? Consider the last five years, where every year is a crisis year: pandemic, war, energy crisis, elections, energy crisis again….
Profit of the Moldovan banking sector in 2020-2024.
|
Year |
Profit in billion lei |
|
2020 |
1,50 |
|
2021 |
2,29 |
|
2022 |
3,66 |
|
2023 |
4,09 |
| 2024 |
3,98 |
Despite a slight decrease in total profits in 2024, some banks registered an increase. Thus, the profit of maib amounted to 1.40 billion lei (14.4% growth compared to 2023). Moldindconbank – 1.11 billion lei (19.8% growth). Victoriabank’s profit amounted to 0.59 billion lei (minus 12.1%), OTP Bank – 0.57 billion lei (-27.8%).
Who owns the Moldovan banking system and who really controls it?
maib
HEIM Partners Limited – 38.69% of shares and 45.55% of voting rights.
Natalia Vrabie – 4.99% of shares and voting rights.
Within the HEIM Partners Limited consortium, the shares are distributed as follows: EBRD – 37.5%; Invalda INVL – 37.5%; Horizon Capital – 25%.
Moldindconbank
Doverie-Invest S.A. (investment fund from Bulgaria) – 77,63% of shares.
Victoriabank
Banca Transilvania – 66.77% of shares
EBRD – 27.56% of shares
The EBRD is also a shareholder of Banca Transilvania itself – 6.87%.
OTP Bank Moldova
OTP Bank Nyrt. (international banking group from Hungary) – 98.26% of shares
Procredit Bank Moldova
ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KgaA (Germany) – 100% of shares.
Eximbank
Intesa Sanpaolo (international banking group from Italy) – 100% of shares.
Fincombank
Main shareholders, citizens of Moldova: Dorin Nicolae – 20,63%; Hvorostovski Victor – 9,65%; three other individuals – 5,97%; company Continent SRL – 9,84%; company Agro Nova Prim SRL – 9,10% of shares.
Energbank
Iute Group AS (Estonia) – 95.92% of shares.
Comertbank
ACF Corporate Finance Consulting AG (Austria) – 99.9%
The Company is owned by two individuals with citizenship of Great Britain and Israel.
Eurocreditbank
Zisi Mariana (Greece) – 46.45%; four other shareholders – individuals from Greece – 9.37%; Mahmut Mohamed Shakir Mahmoud (UAE) – 42.19% of shares.
Market share of commercial banks in Moldova by asset size
|
Assets as of January 31, 2025 in mln. lei |
Market share by size of assets in % |
|
| Comertbank |
2208,7 |
1,29 |
| Energbank |
3350,0 |
1,97 |
| Eurocreditbank |
1687,3 |
0,99 |
| Eximbank |
5726,9 |
3,36 |
| Fincombank |
6089,4 |
3,57 |
| maib |
61373,3 |
35,98 |
| Moldindconbank |
35809,7 |
20,99 |
| OTP Bank |
20525,0 |
12,03 |
| ProCredit Bank |
7383,6 |
4,33 |
| Victoriabank,
(BCR Chisinau) |
24432,7 1981,3 |
15,49 |
| TOTAL |
170576,9 |
100 |
Thus, of the largest foreign investors, the Bulgarian holding “Doverie” controls 21% of the Moldovan banking market, and the central and eastern European banking group from Hungary OTP controls 12%.
Still, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has absolute control over the Moldovan banking system. By the way, it is a commercial bank (!), i.e. according to its charter it should earn profit.
The EBRD directly controls 51.47% of Moldova’s banking market (maib and Victoriabank). But in fact, the EBRD’s influence on the country’s banking market is much deeper.
In 2007, the EBRD invested €3.3 million for 10% of Mobiasbanca’s (now OTP Bank) capital. This late 2007 project was shelved but is now operational. The EBRD also issued EUR 20 million in guarantees to maib in September 2024 to cover 50% of loans to SMEs. The same guarantees, but for EUR 15 million in September 2024, were issued to OTP Bank Moldova. Procredit Bank received EUR 10 million from the EBRD in July 2024 within the framework of the Competitiveness and SME Engagement Program in the Eastern Partnership. These are just some of the EBRD’s existing projects in the Moldovan banking sector.
The first law of the investor says: protect your investment. Therefore, when an investor (in this case, the EBRD) invests tens of millions in a commercial bank, it necessarily stipulates the conditions for the protection of its capital through direct or indirect influence on the borrower’s activity, under the threat of sudden withdrawal of its loans, investments, penalties, etc.
When Moldova gained independence, there were five banks operating in the country: Vneshtorgbank (its successor became Eximbank), Savings Bank (Banca de Ecomonii), Promstroibank (Moldindconbank), Zhilsotsbank (Banca Sociala), Agroprombank (which became Moldova-Agroindbank and then maib). Around the same time, commercial banks began to appear, of which only Victoriabank is currently operating. Of course, there was still a representative office of the USSR State Bank, which was responsible, among other things, for money issue, but these functions were taken over by the new regulator – the National Bank of Moldova. And it, unlike the others, is not a commercial financial institution.
Over time, the number of operating commercial banks in the country reached 17. The list of banks that worked on the Moldovan market but left it for various reasons was supplemented this year by BCR Chisinau.
Here is the list of structures that ever had a banking license and lost it (it is given in alphabetical order).
Commercial banks of Moldova that have ceased their activity
| Banca de Economii | Basarabia | International Commercial Bank (Moldova) |
| Banca Internațională de Investiții și Dezvoltare Moldo-Bulgară (BIID MB) | BCR Chișinău | Întreprinzbancă |
| Banca Municipala Chișinău | Bucuriabank | Investprivatbank |
| Banca Sociala | Businessbank | Oguzbank |
| Banca Turco-Română (BTR) Moldova | Capital Bank | Unibank |
| Bancosind | Guinea | Universalbank |
| Vias |
Some interesting facts from the life of the banking sector in Moldova
- Basarabia Bank – the first commercial bank to have its license revoked (1996).
- Intreprinzbanca – the first commercial bank whose closure led to the first protests of defrauded depositors (1997).
- Guinea – the bank that grew out of a foreign exchange office (1995, license revoked in 1996).
- Businessbank – PetrolBank (today Eurocreditbank) – the first bank merger that failed. Led to the bankruptcy of the first and rebranding of the second (2001).
- Eurocreditbank – first complete rebranding and renaming of the bank from Petrolbank (2002).
- Mobiasbanca – the first bank in Moldova to be bought by the international financial group Societte Generale (2007).
- Procredit Bank – bank that grew out of a non-banking credit organization formerly called MEC Moldova (2008).
- Investprivatbank – after license revocation in 2009, all deposits to individuals were returned under state management.
- “Theft of a billion”, revocation of licenses of Banca de Economii, Banca Sociala, Unibank (2015).
- BCR Chisinau – first successful takeover in the market, by Victoriabank (2025).
Moldovan legislation does not allow foreign banks (organizations) to open branches or representative offices in the country. If they want to be present on our market, they must open a full-fledged commercial bank with all financial and legal requirements. This clause does not always suit foreign investors, but it has helped to maintain the stability of the Moldovan banking system in times of crisis. For example, when the Italian group Venetto, which owned the Moldovan Eximbank, went bankrupt, it could not drag it down with it, because Eximbank was an asset abroad, absolutely independent from the group’s finances, and a profitable asset. As a result, this asset was sold to the Italian group Intenso and continues to bring profit to the new shareholder.
In Moldova there are no restrictions on the presence of foreign capital in the banking system. The National Bank of Moldova acts as the only guarantor of protection of the country’s financial sovereignty. Therefore, our state sovereignty depends on the country’s ability to regulate the financial sector, guided solely by the interests of the country. And this is just one of the reasons why the regulator – the National Bank – should be a truly politically and financially independent institution.
