Banca Transilvania, the leading financial group in Romania by assets, has reportedly reached the stage of agreeing technical and legal details for the takeover of BRD Pensii division from BRD-SocGen, according to sources familiar with the deal.

The takeover would allow Banca Transilvania to enter the Pillar II pensions market, at a time when the individual contribution increased to 4.75% of the gross wage from 3.75% previously. It is only active on the voluntary pension market (Pillar III) – a market ten times smaller and not so predictable as that of the mandatory pensions – as of this moment.

Also in the race for BRD’s pension management division was Vienna Insurance Group (VIG).

BRD Pensii is the smallest of the pension funds on the Romanian market, with modest performances.

BRD Pensii operates both in the Pillar II scheme, where its fund is the smallest in terms of contributors and assets, and the Pillar III scheme.

Both of BRD Pensii’s funds, mandatory and voluntary, posted the weakest performances as of the end of 2023. Altogether, the two funds sum up to almost 600,000 contributors – 6.8% of the total number of contributors to the seven Pillar II and ten Pillar III funds. Their combined assets are RON5.67bn (€1.14bn) – 4.3% of the total combined assets of Pillar II and III funds. 

BRD decided in the middle of last year to sell BRD Pensii, especially since the company was at the centre of a fraud scandal of RON23mn in the summer of 2022. Failure to reach a critical mass in terms of contributors is another reason.

The disappointing performances posted by BRD Pensii’s funds are currently pushing contributors towards other fund managers on the market.