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Financial & Banking
Report: Investors put trust in EBRD regions
Monday, April 6, 2020
* Investments in EBRD regions rose to US$249.3 billion by Q2/2019 * New report finds growing importance of governance * Study concluded before current covid-19 ...
Advance of 29 pct-plus for all Romanian stock market indices at end of 2019
Monday, April 6, 2020
All the Romanian stock market indices ended 2019 on an upward trend, standing more than 29 percent higher year-over-year, and the blue-chip BET index, which reflects the evolution of the most traded companies on the regulated market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) was up by about 35 percent from the year-ago period.According to a statement of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), the BET-TR, the first total return index launched by BVB, closed the year ...
Isarescu: COVID-19-related liquidity tension peak over
Monday, April 6, 2020
The liquidity tension on Romania's market caused by the coronavirus outbreak is past its peak, the country's central bank BNR said. Currently, there are no blockages in meeting demand for cash in lei, BNR governor Mugur Isarescu said in a statement published on BNR's website on Tuesday evening. However, BNR recommends that businesses and the public make the most of cashless payment instruments, he added. The interruptions ...
Romanians abroad send less money to the country, cash transfer firm says
Monday, April 6, 2020
The volume of remittances sent by Romanians abroad to their families in the country have dropped, over the past month, to only 40% of the volume recorded in the same period last year, according to Valentin Daeanu, CEO of money transfer operator Smith&Smith, ...
FTSE Russell confirms Romania is to be included in FTSE Emerging Markets indices
Monday, April 6, 2020
Global index provider FTSE Russell announced during the March 2020 interim review a series of clarifications regarding the promotion of Romania to the status of Secondary Emerging Market, according to a press release of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.Based on the calculations of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) and the current values on the number of shares considered free float, at the end of March 2020, two Romanian companies are about to be included in the FTSE ...
CEC Bank launches full online banking services
Monday, April 6, 2020
Deloitte Romania and FintechOS have created and implemented the technical solution for full online banking products to be marketed by local state-owned lender CEC Bank. The “Bun Venit!” ["Welcome!"] package, which CEC Bank integrated with its own systems, was launched in March as part of a comprehensive project to digitize the products and services offered to clients in Romania and abroad, consultancy firm Deloitte ...
Banca Transilvania is skeptical about robust lending this year
Monday, April 6, 2020
Private lending in Romania will lose momentum to a nominal growth of 3.8% this year, down from 7.6% in 2019 - when the lending hit the highest growth in the past decade, according to Andrei Radulescu, director of macroeconomic analysis at Banca Transilvania, the country’s biggest ...
FinMin ponders seeking “unconditioned financing” from IMF, EBRD
Monday, April 6, 2020
Romania’s Ministry of Finance intends to first tap the local market for financing, them rely on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) - but under arrangement not including conditions [such as structural reforms or performance targets], for collecting the money needed to finance the fight against the new coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, finance minister Florin ...
Omniasig registered an increase of 11 percent of the gross written premiums in 2019
Monday, April 6, 2020
Omniasig Vienna Insurance Group continued its sustainable development strategy in 2019 as well and maintained its ascending evolution from the recent years, registering an increase of approximately 11 percent of the gross written premiums, compared to the previous year. In 2019, the company’s total value of the gross written premiums exceeded the amount of RON 1.3 billion while the registered gross profit, according to IFRS reporting standards ...
Deloitte and FintechOS, partners in CEC Bank’s digital transformation
Monday, April 6, 2020
Deloitte Romania and FintechOS have created and implemented the technical solution for the “Welcome” package, which CEC Bank has integrated with its legacy systems, allowing it to launch, in March, a complex project aimed at digitalizing the products and services provided by the bank to customers in Romania and abroad. The package can be accessed 100% online and includes a current account, a debit card and access to the Mobile Banking ...
Fitch revises CEE banking sector outlooks to negative over COVID-19 pandemic
Monday, April 6, 2020
Fitch Ratings said that it has revised to negative its outlook of the banking sector for the markets it covers in the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia, due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The economic pressures resulting from the spread of the coronavirus are credit negative for CEE banks and could lead to negative rating actions, ...
Bittnet Group listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange holds virtual shareholders meeting
Monday, April 6, 2020
Romanian IT company Bittnet Group has announced that it will organize, on April 29, a completely electronic, online general shareholder’s meeting (GSM), for the first time in Romania. The company’s initiative comes in response to the governmental measures aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. During the GSM, investors will vote, among other things, on the distribution of dividends in ...
Companies get 5-10% bonus for paying Q1 profit tax on time
Monday, April 6, 2020
All Romanian companies subject to profit taxation will get a 5-10% discount, if they choose to pay their taxes for the first quarter’s profits by the legal deadline, namely by April 25, finance minister Florin Citu has announced. This will apply to taxpayers, such as freelancers, that pay quarterly taxes based on projected revenues and expenditures, subject to adjustment at the end of the year according to ...
Minutes of the monetary policy meeting of the NBR Board on 20 March 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
On 20 March 2020, the Board of the National Bank of Romania convened for an emergency meeting. 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; Leonardo Badea, Board member and Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania; Eugen Nicol?escu, Board member and Deputy ...
Decisions of the National Bank of Romania Board in the conetxt of the economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic
Monday, March 30, 2020
With a view to concentrating resources to household and corporate financing and mitigating the impact on the financial statements or the operations of credit institutions, the National Bank of Romania Board convened in an emergency meeting and analysed a series of relevant measures from the perspective of bank resolution, amid the economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic and other decisions on the banking system functioning. Due to these reasons, the ...
Press release of BNR’s Supervisory Committee on the manner in which banks and NBFIs should apply the regulations in force amid the COVID-19 crisis
Monday, March 30, 2020
The National Bank of Romania’s Supervisory Committee convened in an emergency meeting to clarify the manner in which banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in Romania should apply the regulations in force amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the NBR will use the flexibilities in the legislative framework so that individuals and companies with outstanding loans could be helped by banks and NBFIs in the period ahead. Payment delays ...
Libra Internet Bank raises 4.29 mln euro in bond placement
Monday, March 30, 2020
Libra Internet Bank said it has successfully completed its first private bond issue ahead of schedule, raising 4.29 million euro ($5.3 million) from investors. The subscription period ran from March 17 to March 24, Libra Internet Bank said in a press release on Tuesday. The bank announced at the beginning of the month that it plans to launch a private placement by offering 10 million euro worth of ...
Banca Transilvania gives dividends and free shares
Monday, March 30, 2020
Banca Transilvania, the largest lender in Romania by assets, plans to distribute cash dividends worth RON 600 million (EUR 125 mln) to its shareholders, according to a notice to investors about the General Meeting of Shareholders to take place on April 26. The proposed gross dividend per share is RON 0.115, representing 6.4% of the current share price (RON 1.806 as of March 26). In addition to the cash dividends, Banca ...
Private pension funds allowed to invest more in public debt
Monday, March 30, 2020
Romania’s financial markets’ regulator (ASF) has decided to allow the managers of private pension funds to invest more of their assets in government securities issued by the Romanian Ministry of Finance or by EU or European Economic Area Member States, announced the ASF vice-president in charge of the private pensions system, Dan ...
Outstanding loan repayments in lei, down 0.19pct in February
Monday, March 30, 2020
The total value of the outstanding loan repayments in lei of the population and of the companies amounted to 4.73 billion lei, in February 2020, decreasing by 0.19pct compared to the amount reported in the previous month, while the outstanding repayments of foreign currency loans decreased by 7.29pct to 2.18 billion lei (equivalent), according to the data of the National Bank of Romania (BNR).In February, total loans in lei reached 181.869 billion lei (0.12pct ...