Romanian Post could expand retail services with creation of postal bank and insurance arm

The creation of a Romanian postal bank and an insurance business is a “major component” of Romanian Post’s financial development, CEO and chairman Dumitru Daniel Neagoe told Post&Parcel. Plans have been floated by the Romanian Communications Ministry to extend Romanian Post’s retail business. The Ministry, which owns 75% of the Post’s shares, wants the operator to exploit its vast network in a bid to improve revenues.

The Ministry has drafted plans to establish The Romanian Post Bank and Romanian Post Insurances, for which Romanian Post will be the only shareholder.

When contacted by Post&Parcel for comment, Neagoe said: “Romanian Post entering the retail banking services and insurance market is a major component of our financial services development plan – in terms of postal volume trends, the electronic substitution effect, as well as the need for a superior exploitation of Romanian Post’s distribution network.

Neagoe added that Romanian Post will begin a planning process to set out a viable timeframe of when the bank and insurance arm could be established.

Communications minister Valerian Vreme told Mediafax: “Romanian Post Insurances will deal with insurance brokerage. As far as the bank is concerned, we plan to attract an experienced company with the needed financial resources.

“With these proposals, after the draft bill will be approved by the government, we will have the legal option, to establish the two entities, but we will not assume it is compulsory to do it. Everything, especially the bank, depends on the results of a study, of a business plan.”

Neagoe explained that other European postal bank business models have “gained significant market shares in relatively short time due to the territorial dispersion of the postal network, standardised products, as well as a permanent and major flow of retail clients, which is typical for postal network”.