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Financial & Banking
BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu speech at the ECB conference: Resilience to global headwinds? CESEE responses to a changing trade and financial landscape
Monday, June 17, 2019
* Session "Responses to monetary policy and financial shocks" Ladies and gentlemen, The two keynote speakers shared with us insightful thoughts about the consequences of monetary policy and financial shocks and about the responses of CEE countries. My intervention ...
BNR: Balance of payments and external debt – April 2019
Monday, June 17, 2019
In January - April 2019p, the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 2,306 million, compared with EUR 1,665 million in January - April 2018. The deficit on trade in goods widened by EUR 1,273 million, the surplus on services income decreased by EUR 34 million, the deficit of the primary income balance decreased by EUR 817 million, and the surplus of the secondary income balance decreased by EUR 151 ...
Government tests austerity measures to limit fiscal gap
Monday, June 17, 2019
The Romanian government is showing the first signs that it is running out of money as it begins to test austerity measures in order to control the fiscal deficit. The Finance Ministry has sent an address to many public authorities urging them to take measures in order to limit wage spending through wage cuts or layoffs, according to a document presented by Vlad Alexandrescu, an opposition MP. The official document says that the ...
BVB President Anghel: Romania will have a faster growth than the European average
Monday, June 17, 2019
Romania has been one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union (EU) over the past years and we believe that we will have a much faster growth than the European average for the next decade, President of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) Lucian Anghel said on Friday at an event dedicated to technologies on financial markets."Over the past years, Romania has been one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union (EU) over the past years and we ...
Lazea: financial companies, banks make up 60pct of stock market capitalisation in Romania
Monday, June 17, 2019
Financial companies and banks make over 60pct of the stock market capitalisation in Romania, chief economist at the National Bank of Romania (BNR) Valentin Lazea told an event on Friday dedicated to technology on financial markets."Like any parent, we are pleased to see that this kid [the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB)] has developed into a young adult that takes independent steps in life, and we are encouraging the stock exchange to continue its independent ...
ASF: Average social capital of pension fund administrators doubles
Monday, June 17, 2019
The average social capital of private pension administrators will grow from 9 million euro to 19.4 million euro, the funds representing an important source of capital, said Dan Armeanu, vicepresident of the private pension sector, Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) on Thursday. Armeanu said about the role of ASF in the legislative amendments to the private pension system: “It succeeded introduce amendments to provisions of government ...
Gyula Fater, the new head of OTP Romanian subsidiary
Monday, June 17, 2019
The central management of Hungarian banking group OTP replaced the head of the Romanian subsidiary, László Diósi, who served in this position for more than 11 years. OTP has picked a candidate from outside the group, namely Gyula Fater, who until October worked for Budapest Bank. Interestingly, Fater was brought initially last year in ...
SIF Moldova launches EUR 5 mln buyback offer
Monday, June 17, 2019
SIF Moldova, one of the biggest investment companies in Romania, whose shares are trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the ticker SIF2, will launch a public offer to buy back 12.7 million shares representing 1.25% of its capital. The buyback price is RON 1.85 per share, 40% higher than the trading price before the offer was announced (RON 1.325 per share, as of June 11). The total value of the offer amounts to RON 23.5 million (EUR 5 ...
EximBank posts profit of 113.5 mln lei, at end-2018
Monday, June 17, 2019
EximBank registered a profit of 113.5 million lei at the end of last year, the best financial performance of the bank in the past nine years, according to a press release issued on Wednesday.At the end of 2018, the bank managed total exposures worth eight billion lei, up 30pct over the similar period in 2017."Last year we increased lending by 27pct from 2017, reaching a loan portfolio of 4.6 billion lei, which strengthened our position on the ...
Government to maintain subsidies for mortgage loans despite IMF criticism
Monday, June 17, 2019
Romania’s Government will not discontinue extending guarantees for the purchase of homes (Prima Casa / First Home), as recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week, but will launch the enhanced version “One Family - One Home”, finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said, according to ...
CEC Bank reports almost 433 ml lei in 2018 pre-tax profit, an 11-year best
Monday, June 17, 2019
CEC Bank closed 2018 with a pre-tax profit of 432.97 million lei, the best financial result in the last 11 years, the bank said in a statement released on Monday.Loans to legal entities were 13.1 pct up year-on-year, far above the banking system's overall performance, which was of just 6.8 pct, the cited source said.CEC Bank's loans to individuals were also 7.3 pct higher in 2018 compared to the previous year.The amount of new loans ...
Convergence towards euro enlargement
Monday, June 10, 2019
NBR Governor Mugur Isarescu opening speech at the ELEC’s Monetary Conference Your Excellency Baron Snoy, Dear members of ELEC, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a pleasure for me to open this ELEC Conference, which is the 9th taking place in Romania and hosted by the National Bank. It all started in 2011 with “Renewable energy and transport infrastructure in the Black Sea ...
Banks harden credit standards significantly
Monday, June 10, 2019
The first quarter of 2019 marked a significant hardening of credit standards both for loans for the purchase of houses and lands and for consumer credits for the population, according to a study made by the National Bank of Romania (BNR) about credits for non financial companies and for people. According to the document, in the segment of non financial companies, banks maintained constant credit standards against the previous ...
Mihaela Bitu is the new ING CEO
Monday, June 10, 2019
Starting with July 3rd, Mihaela Bitu will become the new CEO of ING Bank Romania. Mihaela has a long history with ING, having joined ING Romania shortly after the company’s establishment in Romania 25 years ago. With a rich, multi-disciplinary banking experience, both in the Romanian market and abroad, she is currently acting as Head of Wholesale Banking and Deputy General Manager. Since May 2018, Mihaela Bitu is also a ...
Optional pension funds assets, over RON 2.17 billion at 30 April 2019
Monday, June 10, 2019
Optional pension funds had assets worth over RON 2.17 billion (rd EUR 456 million) at 30 April 2019, up 15.1 percent against the level at 30 April 2018, according to data released by the Financial Surveillance Authority (ASF).State securities held the largest share in the assets, namely 56.11 percent, seconded by shares with RON 483.445 million (22.28 percent) and by corporate bonds worth RON 199.172 million or 9.18 percent of total assets.According to ...
Omnicredit, the first fintech platform that offers exclusively online loans
Monday, June 10, 2019
The first fintech platform in Romania for multicredit services, Omnicredit, which operates exclusively online, has been launched on the local market. Omnitech offers 8 types of loans; the maximum loan could reach RON 25,000 and be approved in less than an hour. Online registration is done within 30 seconds, the credit decision is taken within one hour of uploading the documents and the money reaches the customer’s account within 8 hours of ...
EBRD launches new financing programme to support innovative SMEs in Romania
Monday, June 10, 2019
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union have launched a new financing programme that supports investment in research and innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and midcaps in Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania. Launched at an event in in Bucharest, the Horizon 2020 programme is offering up to 200 selected enterprises financial and advisory support. The financing targets these ...
Moody’s salutes outcome of Romania’s referendum on justice
Monday, June 10, 2019
International rating agency Moody’s, in a commentary dedicated to the event and handed over to the financial markets on June 3, saluted the outcome of the referendum on justice launched by Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, according to ...
The Council of Competitiveness analyses the taking over of Leumi Bank Romania by First Bank
Monday, June 10, 2019
The Competitiveness Council analyses the trading through which First Bank SA takes over Leumi Bank Romania SA by acquiring 99.9235% of their social capital, informs the authority for competitiveness in a press release. First Bank SA is a loan institution which offers a complete range of banking services for natural persons and judicial people.First Bank is controlled by JCF IV Tiger Holdings Sarl whole majority capital is owned by J.C.Flowers IV, L.P., ...
Mandatory private pension funds' assets worth 52.26 bln in April, up 21.42pct
Monday, June 10, 2019
Mandatory private pension funds in Romania had assets worth over 52.26 billion lei on 30 April 2019, up 21.42 percent from the same level of the previous year, according to the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) data.Government securities made up the largest share of the assets, of 30.06 billion lei, respectively 57.52 percent. Shares came in second, at 9.96 billion lei (19.07 percent). Bank deposits ranked third in this respect, at 4.75 billion lei and 9.10 ...