UK fintech Ebury opened a branch in Bucharest one year ago. Ebury Romania ended its first year of activity on the local market with a client portfolio in excess of 250 companies, currently adding 50 new corporate and SME clients every month, a press release shows.

Ebury estimates that from the 12.300 companies in Romania having a turnover above one million Euro and having a substantial amount of international payments, about 13 percent are already working with a Fintech company while another 30 percent are considering adding a real competitor to their current banking relationships over the next year.

“Romania has exceeded all our expectations with respect to number of clients ready to explore alternatives to traditional banking services. We have passed the level of early adopters and are now moving to the early majority,” said Johan Gabriëls, Country Manager Romania and Bulgaria.

According to Ebury’s statistics, less than 15 percent of Romanian importers and exporters have a hedging plan, compared with >60 percent in Western European countries. Hedging is a method of covering currency exchange risk by buying or selling a currency so that if a sudden currency fluctuation occurs, the company’s revenue will not be affected.