The Romanian Banking Association (RBA) is a Romanian legal entity, set up as a non-profit professional body which conducts its activity according to its statute and the applicable Romanian laws in force. The RBA activity complies with the provisions of the law governing the banking activity, according to which:  

„The credit institutions can organize professional associations to represent their collective interests in front of the public authorities, to examine matters of common interest, to promote cooperation, to keep informed the association members and the general public and organize services of common interest. The professional associations of the credit institutions collaborate with the National Bank of Romania”.

RBA’s main goal is to represent and defend the professional interests of its members - credit institutions. RBA’s main responsibilities are:

1. to organize and ensure the dialogue among credit institutions, to promote the principles of banking policy in fields of general interest for its members; 
2. to examine matters of interest for credit institutions, to promote cooperation, to keep informed the association’s members and the general public, as well as to organize services of common interest; 
3. to collaborate in the publication of specialised reviews, studies, books or other materials that could help or promote banking; 
4. to collaborate with training centres in banking as regards organizing specialised courses for the employees working in the banking system; 
5. to ensure and organize public relations with the press, radio, television, with the mass-media in general.

RBA members are credit institutions, as well as the branches of foreign banks present in Romania. Established on 31 May 1991 following the initiative of 14 commercial banks, currently, RBA has 42 members.

The Romanian Banking Association management is ensured by:

• the General Meeting
• the Board 
• the General Secretariat.

RBA has several specialised commissions whose main target is to analyse and propose solutions meant to solve the specific problems that the banking sector has to face. The RBA technical commissions which function on ongoing basis are:

1. Legal Commission
2. Commission for Settlement
3. Commission for Taxation
4. Commission for Lending
5. Commission of Bank Enforcement Officers
6. Commission for the New Reporting System of the Credit Institutions to the National Bank of Romania (SIRBNR)
7. Commission for Accounting
8. Commission for Basel II
9. Compliance Commission
10. SEPA Commission
11. Commission for IT&C Security
12. SWIFT Users Group
13. Commission for Banking Security
14. Commission for Cards Operations
15. Public Relations Commission 
16. Commission of Experts in Internal Audit
17. Human Resources Commission 
18. Commission for Capital Markets and Treasury
19. Commission for Mortgage Credit
20. Anti – Fraud Commission

At national level, the RBA has an ongoing dialogue with the National Bank of Romania, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Administration and Home Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, the specialised commissions of the Parliament, the National Office for Preventing and Combating Money Laundering, as well as other state bodies.

The RBA management is frequently invited to attend the summits organized by different institutions of the state, being asked permanently to have an opinion about the major problems of the banking system and the national economy.

RBA also collaborates on ongoing basis with the institutions of the Romanian banking system: the Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund, the Credit Bureau, TransFonD, the Romanian Banking Institute, as well as other institutions, such as the National Securities Commission, the Chamber of Commerce of Romania and Bucharest, the Romanian Commodities Exchange, the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Publicity, the Electricity Market Operator  OPCOM, The National Agency for Consumer Protection, the National Authority for the Supervision of Personal Data Processing and others.

Internationally, RBA has permanent contacts with similar associations for exchanges of experience and information among specialists from several banking systems, in fields of common interest. Thus, the Romanian Banking Association has been a member of the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris since 1995 and a member of the Inter-Balkan Forum of Banking Associations since 2003.

During 2007, the Association became a full member of the European Banking Federation, following the Romania integration in the European Union (between 1992-1999 it was a correspondent member and between 1999 -2007  an associate member of this organisation).

Since March 2007, the RBA is a member of the European Payments Council, which is responsible for implementing the SEPA - Single Euro Payments Area - project.

Since April 2009, the RBA is a member of the European SWIFT Alliance (ESA), an european association of the SWIFT National User Groups.

Since 2009, the RBA is member of the European Mortgage Federation.

RBA has permanent contacts with EU commissions, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

RBA initiates and attends different events that promote the banking system, seminars and conferences on professional issues.

International organizations, specialized institutes, well-known journals, major companies and other foreign organizations ask for the advice of the RBA in fundamental matters, a fact that proves the statute and acknowledgement of the importance of the Romanian banking community.