Since this article was written, I have tried several products offered by some banks. Mainly, I got a first hand experience with the improved BCR 24 service from BCR bank as well as Raiffeisen’s service (Raiffeisen is the third bank I have current business with after BT and BCR).

My conclusion is that BCR’s service is the best. It uses a token device both for generating login passwords as well as generating codes for signing your operations. It is a bit uncomfortable to use (you have to go through 3 pages of the small display and any mistake will force you to start over, even if it’s a mundane currency exchange operation) but it’s quite secure (unless you lose your token device).

The BCR 24 design is nice and clear, although every now and then you will have to consult the service’s documentation. What I love about it is that all operations are well documented, everything appears there instantly: blocked amounts, payments, transfers, ATM operations and so on, all with full comments (how much you got, how much you payed, how much the bank too form you and so on). The downside of BCR is that it taxes every single thing you do with almost double the amount that other banks take (the BCR 24 service costs 2 lei, compared to 1 for most others), you are taxed also when you put money to your account at the counter as well as when you take out money at the counter, you get taxed when you get transfers, you get taxed when you pay, not to mention that the deposits BCR offers have the smallest interest rate on the market. If they would only moderate their taxing policies I would make BCR my main bank.

The Banca Transilvania (BT) service got little improvement. Mainly corporate users get to promote their business through Google Ads with some free credit. Aside from that, the BT 24 application is horrendous. It only works on IE, has severe issues under WIndows Vista and Windows 7, the design is horrible and the things you can do are severely limited. Payment templates are unclear (having labels such as “field 1″ and “field 2″ is confusing, whenever you should be using a client code or an invoice number), information is updated very late, blocked debit card sums are hidden, general transaction list is updated once a day and so on, not to mention sums taken by the bank are not shown anywhere.

All in all, Banca Transilvania has serious problems in their internet banking chapter, but the fact that its deposits have good interest rates and their cards do not charge a monthly fee make it a very attractive option.

Raiffeisen, on the other hand, also uses a token device for their banking service (much like BCR has). The design is not so great but the functionality is similar, hinting a similar solution provider. Right now I am musing over moving my banking business over to Raiffeisen.