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Financial & Banking
Two left in race for Credit Agricole’s Romanian branch
Monday, October 28, 2019
Alpha Bank and Vista Bank have remained in the race for French group Crédit Agricole’s Romanian branch, after the US investment fund JC Flowers (which recently acquired Piraeus Bank and Leumi Bank), is no longer ...
Doing Business 2020: Europe and Central Asia Economies Accelerate Business Climate Improvements
Monday, October 28, 2019
Economies in Europe and Central Asiaaccelerated an already strong momentum to improve their business climates, enacting 56 reforms and leading globally in reforms on paying taxes and enforcing contracts, the World Bank’s Doing Business ...
Romania lost three places in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020
Monday, October 28, 2019
Romania went down another three places to 55th place in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 ranking, which evaluates the ease of doing business in 190 countries around the world. Romania has seen a constant involution since 2016 when it ranked 36th. The report notes, however, that Romania has made some progress compared to last year. Romania made starting a business easier by allowing voluntary value-added tax registration, which is less time ...
Credit Suisse report: Romanians are generally asset rich – cash poor
Monday, October 28, 2019
Romanians are now wealthier than all neighboring nations with the exception of Hungarians, but they are generally asset rich – cash poor, according to a fresh Credit Suisse report. In 2019, the wealth per adult in Romania is estimated at USD 43,074, compared with USD 44,321 in Hungary, USD 42,686 in Bulgaria, USD 27,381 in Russia, USD 25,046 in Serbia, USD 8,792 in Ukraine and USD 12,804 in Moldova, Credit Suisse’s “Global Wealth ...
Horia Braun will manage biggest asset manager in Romania
Monday, October 28, 2019
Horia Braun, chief economist of BCR, the second largest lender in Romania, part of Austrian group Erste, has been appointed as CEO of the group’s local asset management subsidiary - Erste Asset Management. He replaces Dragos Neacsu, who has managed the company since 2008 and turned it into the biggest asset manager in the country, with RON 6.8 bln (EUR 1.43 bln) under administration. Neacsu will leave the ...
Net assets of investment funds have increased in September by 1.4% up to 46.5 billion lei
Monday, October 21, 2019
The net assets of the 207 funds open and closed, local and foreign, have increased in September by1.4 % up to the level of 46.5 billion lei (9.8 billion euro) registering growth of 11% since the beginning of the year, according to a press release of the Association of the Administrators of Funds.In September, the net inflows of the month totalized 269 million lei (56.7 million euro).According to the press release, the most performing 5 funds over the last 12 months ...
Florin Georgescu, NBR First Deputy Governor, Speech at conferences "The Impact of Brexit on the Economies of Ireland and the EU"
Monday, October 21, 2019
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the National Bank of Romania! Today, together with the Embassy of Ireland in Romania, we have the honour of hosting a very interesting conference held by Professor Alan Ahearne, on a highly topical issue – “The impact of Brexit on the economies of Ireland and the European Union”. Let me introduce our special guest: Mr Alan Ahearne is Director of the Whitaker Institute and Professor of Economics at the ...
Alan Aheame: the impact of Brexit on Romania could be a modest one, a third of a percentage point of GDP
Monday, October 21, 2019
The impact of the Brexit on Romania could be a modest one on long term, respectively a drop of a third of a percentage point, explained on Friday Alan Aheame, manager of Whitaker Institute and member of the Board of the Central bank of Ireland.‘The impact on Romania is a small one, it is a third of a percentage point. I think that if the economic growth prognosis for Romania is 4% for the future year, then the growth will be 3.7%. The impact is small as Romania is not very ...
Unicredit Leasing Romania issues 3-year bonds with 0.5% yearly coupon
Monday, October 21, 2019
UniCredit Leasing, the largest leasing company in Romania, part of Italian group UniCredit, has raised from the international markets EUR 300 million by issuing 3-year senior bonds guaranteed by the ...
Uniqa fined for unfair commercial practices
Monday, October 21, 2019
Romania’s Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) ruled a RON 40,000 (EUR 8,400) fine for Uniqa Life Insurance and written warnings for Gothaer and Grawe Romania, for unfair commercial practices found during periodic inspections carried out at the respective insurance companies. ASF fined Uniqa mainly for “deficiencies related to the functionality of the internal control mechanisms established at the company level.” These “deficiencies” resulted in ...
PwC survey: Gross private sector wages in Romania up 9.4 pct in 2019
Monday, October 21, 2019
Gross wages in Romania’s private companies increased by an average of 9.4 percent in 2019, according to the PayWell Salary and Benefits Survey conducted by PwC Romania. The salary increase reported for 2019 exceeds the 4.6 percent level estimated for this year by respondent companies in the survey’s previous edition. For 2020, private companies are estimating a 5.7 percent average gross wage increase. The highest average wage growth in 2019, ...
Dumitru: it’s almost impossible for Romania’s budget deficit to stay under 3% of GDP
Monday, October 21, 2019
Romania’s budget deficit will most likely reach 4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year, says Ionut Dumitru, chief economist at Raiffeisen Bank Romania and former president of the Fiscal Council. He thinks that the new Government, which won’t be installed earlier than November, won’t have time to correct the imbalances. The budget revenues are under target while the expenditures are higher than estimated by almost EUR 2 billion. In the first ...
Proportunity, a fintech company launched by Romanians in London raised a GBP 2 mln
Monday, October 21, 2019
London-based fintech company Proportunity, launched by two Romanian entrepreneurs, has raised a GBP 2 mln seed investment to drive its analytics and lending platform that offers home equity loans to first-time buyers. The startup is the only ‘Help to Buy’ challenger to date that has actually helped consumers own homes. Since getting authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2018, Proportunity has grown to over 5,000 users and lent on properties worth over GBP ...
Moldovan fintech Fagura plans to expand to the Romanian market
Monday, October 21, 2019
Fagura, a FinTech founded in the Republic of Moldova that has developed a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, plans to expMoldovan fintech Fagura plans to expand to the Romanian marketand to the Romanian market. The company has launched operations in Moldova after a period of testing and considers two options for entering the Romanian market: getting an international P2P operating license or teaming up with a local ...
Minutes of the monetary policy meeting of the National Bank of Romania Board on 3 October 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019
10 October 2019 The National Bank of Romania Board members present at the meeting: Mugur Is?rescu, Chairman of the Board and Governor of the National Bank of Romania; Florin Georgescu, Vice Chairman of the Board and First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania; Eugen Nicol?escu, Board member and Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania; Marin Dinu, Board member; Gheorghe Gherghina, Board member; Ágnes Nagy, Board member; and Virgiliu-Jorj Stoenescu, Board ...
Press release on the start of the term in office of the new NBR Board
Monday, October 14, 2019
Starting today, 11 October 2019, the five-year term of the new Board of the National Bank of Romania becomes effective, pursuant to Decision No. 19 of 3 July 2019 of the Parliament of Romania. The NBR Board is composed of: Academician Mugur Is?rescu – Chairman of the Board and Governor of the National Bank of Romania Professor Florin Georgescu, Ph.D. - Vice Chairman of the Board and First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of ...
European Union anti-money laundering laws to include cryptocurrencies
Monday, October 14, 2019
Cryptocurrency has often been recognised as a creation that can help mass numbers of people. Most notably the unbanked populations who do not have access to financial services or have to pay over the odds to transfer fiat currencies to other countries. Yet, crypto has not been cleared of criticism over the ...
Romania is 6th largest property insurance market in CEE
Monday, October 14, 2019
Romania is the 6th largest property insurance market in Central and Eastern Europe, with 262 million euros, Adrian Marin, president of the National Union of Romanian Insurers and Reinsurers (UNSAR) told the 16th International Catastrophic Risks Forum on Tuesday."Romania is the 6th largest property insurance market in Central and Eastern Europe with 262 million euros, one million euros less than fifth-ranked Slovakia. However, it is worth mentioning that written premiums for ...
Total assets held by privately-managed pension funds reach 57.43 bln lei in H1 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019
Total assets held by the privately-managed pension system reached 57.43 billion lei (12.13 billion euros) in H1 2019, up by almost 26 percent from the 45.6-plus billion lei recorded a year ago, shows data of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).As of end-June 2019, private pensions accounted for 5.8 percent of the GDP, compared to 5.22 percent in December 2018."The assets of privately-managed pension funds topped 12 billion euros at the end of H1 2019, getting to ...
TBI Bank appoints Costin Mincovici as Chief Credit Officer
Monday, October 14, 2019
TBI Bank has announced the appointment of Costin Mincovici, a professional with over 17 years of experience in the risk area, as Chief Credit Officer. He replaces Martin Muransky, who will take over as Chief Risk Officer within 4finance, the mother company of TBI Bank and one of the global leaders in consumer finance. Costin Mincovici is specialized in managing risks across the entire credit lifecycle. Throughout his career in banking and non-banking institutions, he assumed ...