15 iul 2011

Those who now regret that they took out a loan in Swiss francs, as the franc is now 75% stronger against the leu compared with 2007-2008, at around RON3.7, should prepare for worse. Foreign analysts more

14 iul 2011

When gold hit its second all-time peak in a row at National Bank of Romania (BNR) rates on Tuesday, Piraeus Bank, the only domestic lender that sells gold to retail clients, registered orders for 10 more

13 iul 2011

The leu and the Bucharest Stock Exchange fell 2% in the past two days, after international investors responded anxiously to fears that Italy and potentially even Spain could face similar problems to more

11 iul 2011

The thirst for liquidity of small and mid-sized banks has led to the re-emergence on the market of offers of leu-denominated deposits with interests of 7.5% to 7.75% a year, even though the major more

11 iul 2011

With the Swiss franc at an all-time high against the leu, bankers can do nothing but sit and watch the overdue loans rise fast. After the franc has gone up 60% against the leu since the beginning of more

8 iul 2011

Alpha Bank, the local subsidiary of one of the leading Greek financial groups, received a significant capital injection in June, of EUR50 million. Bank officials say the capital increase is part of more

7 iul 2011

Bankers placed an average of 2 billion lei (equivalent to half a billion euros) in each working day in June in the overnight deposit facility of the central bank (BNR), for which they get an interest more

6 iul 2011

Almost three years after the economic crisis was first felt on the Romanian market, and after the economy has lost EUR30 billion, with tens of thousands of companies going insolvent or disappearing more

5 iul 2011

The Finance Ministry paradoxically has the upper hand over bankers because at the end of July it is in banks’ best interest not to be stuck with the EUR2.4 billion that the state has to repay them more

4 iul 2011

The nine largest foreign banking groups that undertook to maintain support for their subsidiaries in Romania as part of the “Vienna initiative” in May 2009 are now at 97% of their aggregate more

30 iun 2011

It has become cheaper for a banking group looking to consolidate its presence on the market to buy a bank rather than invest in organic growth, says Laszlo Diosi, head of OTP Bank, the domestic more

29 iun 2011

RBS Bank Romania, the local subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland put up for sale as part of the reorganization plan of the British group shaken by the losses of the last few years, could find a more

28 iun 2011

Loans in Swiss francs, used in boom years as a means of stimulating sales thanks to the low nominal interests, are now troublesome for bankers as well, not just for clients who chose to borrow in this more

27 iun 2011

Events in Greece, a country which European leaders are struggling to save from bankruptcy, are moving the leu/euro exchange rate quite strongly. more

24 iun 2011

Romania's banking system would still be standing even in a worst-case scenario, where Greek banks were so seriously crippled by the financial crisis that they would be forced to give up their foreign more

22 iun 2011

Something that seemed inconceivable during boom years, namely for a bank to collect the installments for the loans that one of its peers sold, as it does for an utility, now comes as a natural more

22 iun 2011

The short-term foreign debt (the amounts borrowed from abroad by the state, banks and private companies that need to be paid back over the next 12 months), which was the main vulnerability that sent more

22 iun 2011

The exchange rate fluctuations over the past week, with the leu losing over 2% against the euro, broke the relative stability to which bankers, as well as clients with foreign currency loans, were more

21 iun 2011

Greek-controlled banks have returned with generous offers for deposits, paying interests of over 8% a year on leu-denominated deposits and of 4% a year on euro deposits. This is the first visible sign more

20 iun 2011

The current anomalies of the retail lending market have been generated by regulations imposed by the National Bank of Romania, or BNR, at some point, as solutions to certain situations, but the new more

17 iun 2011

Raiffeisen Leasing expects to make profit this year, too, after having seen the value of funded goods triple in the first three months (it started, however, from a low base), as the rate of clients in more

14 iun 2011

The forex market did not go much past the EUR35 billion level in traded volume in May either, after the market had hovered around this value in the past four months, despite the higher leu volatility. more

10 iun 2011

Exports came with an unpleasant surprise in April, falling by 17% against the all time high reached in March, to EUR3.3 billion. more

10 iun 2011

Banca Romaneasca, the domestic subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece, rented 3,250 square meters in the Euro Tower office building, located at the intersection of Barbu Vacarescu and Lacul Tei more

10 iun 2011

The loan provisions set up by banks posted another increase in April, leaping by around EUR200 million from March, after a four-month period when they seemed to have stabilized. The April jump is more