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PM Tudose' s message to the banks operating in Romania: "the romantic era" is over and it's time to work for profit
Premier Mihai Tudose said on Friday that his message to the banks operating in Romania, during a meeting with the representatives thereof, was that "the romantic era" is over and it's time they started working for profit," in other words pay taxes to the Romanian state and not transfer all the money abroad.
"I met with the representatives of these banks and asked them if their ancestors have fought in the Battle of Solferino that was the inspiration for the foundation of the Red Cross," Tudose said with a hint of irony to the banks' apparently doing charity or "economic apostolic missions. (...) You cannot operate as a bank and claim you made no profit for 10 years. (...) We don't buy this anymore. I talked with Mr. Finance Minister, and I told the banks myself that the romantic era is over and that these five or even ten years of on-the-job training, during which they learned how to run a bank are enough and it's time for them to start working for profit and also pay taxes to the Romanian state, not transfer all the money abroad. Not all of them fall in this category, there are also banks that play fair. I repeat, everything has a limit. It is my understanding that Mr. Finance Minister also had a discussion with them, we'll hold other talks, we are at the stage of nice talk, coloring nicely. If this doesn't work, we'll sharpen the pencils," Mihai Tudose said in an interview with Realitatea TV private broadcaster, commenting on the fact that apparently Romania-based "banks make no profit."
A big part of the banks’ losses come from not grating loans, said last Tuesday the governor of the National Bank of Romania’s (BNR), Mugur Isarescu. “Banks cannot survive only from payment commissions or from currency exchange. They have expenses: offices, salaries, taxes and so on. If they don’t give loans, their profit capacity is low,” said Isarescu.
The governor said during the conference on annual report on the inflation that the companies level that are allowed to take loans is reduced, respectively 12,000 from 500,000, which says “a lot”.
Isarescu also spoke about the non-performing loans, saying that in normal conditions, a bank doesn’t need reasons to sell cheaper than it could actually sell.
“If it’s about offshores, they have to be immediately fined,” said the BNR governor.
The minister of finance stated recently that dozens of banks in Romania did not pay any profit tax in the last five years, adding that the state should look into this.