Zurich-based deVere said its aim was to assist Romania-based expatriates with their investments, pensions, mortgages and stock trading needs.
The Bucharest Expat website is widely used by expats and tourists for information about Bucharest and Romania in general, deVere said.
James Green, who is heading up deVere’s move into Romania, said the company is planning to sponsor events for expatriates resident in Romania, a market he described as "up-and-coming" and more "fragmented" than many others in Europe, in that it lacks the expat societies and clubs that often give them cohesion and make marketing to them easier.
"Hence the relationship with the expat website," Green, who is not related to deVere chief executive Nigel Green, added.
He said an estimated 5,000 British expats are thought to live in Romania, in addition to a sizeable contingent of French and American expatriates. Kevin White, head of deVere’s private client division,added that Romania had become "a country where more clients are relocating to for work purposes".
Although deVere does not, for the moment at least, have an office in Romania, it currently has a presence on the Bucharest Expat website, which is described as a “section powered by deVere Group”.
Here it lists as its "strategic partners" such companies as Castlestone, Deutsche Bank, Friends Provident International, Generali International, Royal Skandia, United Asset Management and Zurich International.
DeVere says it has a presence in more than 100 countries around the world. These include offices in such markets as Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as more conventional expat destinations like France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland.
