National signs off Banca Romaneasca

National Bank of Greece has signed the agreement for the sale of its Romanian subsidiary Banca Romaneasca to OTP Bank Nyrt, the Hungarian lender said in a statement Thursday. The acquisition will boost OTP's market share in Romania to about 4 percent.

The transaction, whose financial terms were not disclosed, is expected to close by early 2018. The deal makes OTP the eighth-largest lender in Romania, and further transactions possible in Romania after Banca Romaneasca is fully integrated, OTP deputy chief executive officer Laszlo Wolf said.

Banca Romaneasca had a 1.6 percent market share at the end of 2016 and 109 branches in Romania. [Reuters]