The accession of Romania to the European Union has imposed the harmonization of Romanian legislation with the Community law, including in the banking field. In order to align the national provisions with the existing regulations at community level, the Romanian legislator has abrogated the Law no. 58/1998 concerning the banking activity and it has adopted new provisions related to this field, namely the Government Urgent Ordinance no. 99/2006 concerning credit institutions and the adequacy of capital. This ordinance represents a veritable reform of the banking activity and it has the vocation to be considered as a major step in the process of creation of essential legal rules in order to regulate the commercial and business environment in Romania. For the purpose of the present paper we aim to analyze the major innovations provided by the new regulation in relation with the credit institutions and the conditions they must fulfill in order to be allowed to perform their activities in Romania (regardless of their nationality). The present analysis intends to accentuate the main useful aspects of the new provisions in order to help the theoreticians of law as well as the professionals to deal with the legislative instability Romania is facing.