Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati Fascicle I – 2010. Economics and Applied Informatics. Years XVI – n o 2 - ISSN 1584-0409 109 Structural and Qualitative Analysis of the Romanian Banking System Anişoara Niculina APETRI “Ştefan cel Mare” Univesity of Suceava anisoarad@seap.usv.ro Iuliana Oana MIHAI Univesity DunĆrea de Jos” of Galati oana.anghel@ugal.ro Camelia Catalina MIHALCIUC “Ştefan cel Mare” Univesity of Suceava cameliam@seap.usv.ro Abstract The banking sector, the predominant component of the Romanian financial system, had a relatively stable structure in the period 2005-2009 and has experienced significant consolidation, particularly in the years 2005-2006, this being sustained mainly by the restructuring and privatization process, but also by Romania's EU accession perspective and the competitive environment in this area. Given the new status of Romania as EU member country, the competition in the banking system has increased significantly, leading to both structural changes, but also to changes in levels of analysis indicators of banking structure and performance. Following this analysis, it appears that, recently, our country's banking system saw a dynamic and unprecedented diversification resulting from the economic development of the society and adaptation to EU requirements, and we can say that in Romania there is, now, a modern and competitive banking system, which provides circulation of the domestic economy and provides banking products and services in accordance with trends in the European banking sector. Key words: banking structure, liquidity, solvability, banking performance, foreign capital JEL COD: G21 1. Introduction The deterioration of the general economic climate, especially since the end of 2008, put its imprint on the evolution of the Romanian banking system. Factors that have driven the overall context of international economic crisis, but have also influenced the performance of credit institutions, have been linked to rising unemployment and labor market uncertainty, reduced household income, restrict exports, reduced direct capital investment and decreases in market value of land and buildings. The main changes made in Romania's banking system aimed at changing the name of some branches, opening of foreign banks branches in Romania, the opening of a branch in Cyprus belonging to Banca Transilvania, authorizing the functioning of some banks (Millennium Bank). 2. Structural analysis of the Romanian banking system As a result of these changes that occurred, it is noted that at the end of 2009, 42 credit institutions were operating in Romania (41 banks and the cooperative network CREDITCOOP), down from 43 in 2008, and the number of branches of foreign banks remained unchanged at end of 2009 compared to 2006 (10 entities), while the number of domestic banks decreased by one unit from 33 entities in 2008 to 32 in 2009. Regarding their distribution by type of capital, the situation at the end of 2009 was as follows: two banks were fully or majorly owned by the state (CEC Bank and Eximbank), 4 major domestic private capital (Transilvania Bank, Carpathian Commercial Bank,