Financial & Banking
Study: Romanians are increasingly expecting banks to offer customers dynamic, efficient experiences
Monday, January 24, 2022
The industry split into “rock star” performers and under-performing players and Romanian banks made no exception. The financial services industry survived the pandemic better than expectations, but the sector is under the sign of a great divergence, according to the 11th edition of ...
EY Romania: Global minimum 15 pct tax rate on multinationals enters straight line
Monday, January 24, 2022
The taxation of multinationals by at least 15 pct goes into a straight line, and Romania will have to adapt its legislation to include these new taxation rules, covering also specific situations, according to an analysis made by Miruna Enache, EY Romania & Moldova Tax Partner, EY CESA Tax Markets Leader."Multinationals must be prepared: Romania, through the voice of its Minister of Finance, Adrian Caciu, begins preparations for the implementation, as of ...
New record highs on Bucharest Stock Exchange. The total trades exceed RON 20 billion for the first time
Monday, January 24, 2022
The cumulative value of transactions with all types of financial instruments on the Regulated Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) exceeded, for the first time, the threshold of RON 20 billion, the equivalent of over EUR 4 billion. The average daily liquidity for all types of financial instruments registered a new maximum: RON 79.4 million ...
EximBank continues in 2022 the financial program for supporting large companies
Monday, January 24, 2022
The financial program supporting large companies and SMEs with a turnover higher than 20 million Lei in 2019, which EximBank has implemented after being specially mandated by the Romanian state, will continue in the first half of this year, its validity being extended until June 30th, 2022. Since launching the COVID-19 state support program, dedicated to large companies and SMEs with a 20 million Lei turnover in 2019, ...
Shares of BRD jump 8% on special dividend proposal
Monday, January 24, 2022
The shares of Romanian lender BRD-Groupe Societe Generale (BVB ticker: BRD) jumped by 8% on Friday, January 14, after the ...
Pillar II pension funds deliver 1.66% annualized real return at end of 2021
Monday, January 24, 2022

The seven mandatory private pension funds (Pillar II) delivered a weighted average return of 5.9% in 2021, which translates into a net gain of RON 4.5 bln (RON 0.9 bln) for future pensioners, the association of fund managers ...
BNR Board decisions on monetary policy
Monday, January 17, 2022

The Board of the National Bank of Romania, having convened for the meeting of 10 January 2022, decided: to increase the monetary policy rate to 2.00 percent per annum, from 1.75 percent per annum, as of 11 January 2022; to extend the symmetric corridor of interest rates on ...
Erste Group Research: CEE Market Insights. Romanian central bank ups its game
Monday, January 17, 2022
Romanian central bank ups its game, according to Erste Group analysts. The most essential insights from the CEE region this week are the upcoming string of inflation data and two monetary policy meetings. The board members of the National Bank of Romania had a ...
BNR: Balance of payments and external debt – November 2021
Monday, January 17, 2022
In January – November 2021 , the balance-of-payments current account posted a deficit of EUR 15,313 million, compared with EUR 9,753 million in the same year-earlier period. The breakdown shows that the deficits on trade in goods and on primary income widened by EUR 3,895 million and EUR 784 million, respectively; the surplus on secondary income and that on services decreased by EUR 515 million and EUR 366 million, ...
First Romanian cryptocurrency to be launched into space in early February
Monday, January 17, 2022
The Romanian cryptocurrency, Aether, launched at the end of last year in the Binance Smartchain network, which has a market capitalization of 750,000 US dollars and 5,648 investors, will be launched into space at the beginning of February, with a rocket belonging to ARCA Space, a local aerospace company, informs the company's representatives."The innovation of this ambitious project is that it will reach space and at the same time develop satellites that ...
BCR: As a percentage of GDP is similar to the level of 2021. We do not see a financing problem for Romania
Monday, January 17, 2022
"We don't see a funding problem," chief economist of BCR bank Ciprian Dascalu said, speaking for Ziarul ...
World Bank sees Romania’s growth as moderating alongside the euro area
Monday, January 17, 2022

Following a strong rebound in 2021, the global economy is entering a pronounced slowdown amid fresh threats from COVID-19 variants and a rise in inflation, debt, and income inequality that could endanger the recovery in emerging and developing economies, according to ...
PayU, eMAG and Alpha Bank Romania extend Instant Money Back service in Hungary
Monday, January 17, 2022
PayU, eMAG and Alpha Bank Romania extend the Instant Money Back service to Hungary, so that eMAG clients that are making online payments with a saved card and make a return, receive the value of the returned products in maximum 30 minutes after the solving of the return, the bank announced on Tuesday."Through the introduction of the Instant Money Back solution, PayU, together with its partners, has offered a unique product in Europe, which, after ...
EBRD backs car parts maker Faurecia in four countries, including Romania
Monday, January 17, 2022
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) confirmed it is investing up to EUR 80 mln in a six-year bond ESG issue by French auto parts maker Faurecia to back investments in Romania and three other countries by 2026. The financing will be used exclusively to support Faurecia's 2022-2026 investments in Morocco, Poland, Romania and Tunisia. These include R&D for electric vehicles and renewable energy ...
CEC bank disburses EUR 127 mln in dividends to Romanian Govt
Monday, January 17, 2022
Romanian state-owned CEC Bank disbursed last week dividends of RON 634.3 mln (EUR 127 mln) for the financial years 2019 and 2020 to its shareholder, the Ministry of Public Finance. The bank distributed over 85% of its net profit attributable to shareholders - having one of the highest dividend payout ratios on the market. "We have ...
BNR: International reserves – December 2021
Monday, January 10, 2022
On 31 December 2021, the National Bank of Romania - BNR’s foreign exchange reserves stood at EUR 40,475 million, compared to EUR 39,283 million on 30 November 2021. During the month, the following flows were recorded: EUR 5,023 million worth of inflows representing: changes in credit institutions’ foreign currency-denominated required reserves ...
Bucharest Stock Exchange wins 5.28 billion RON from capitalization in first week of 2022
Monday, January 10, 2022

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) won 5.28 billion RON from the capitalization, 2.3 pct respectively, in the first week of 2022, and the value of the transactions with shares registered a decrease of 12 pct, compared to the previous week, according to the data published by BVB.The market capitalization reached 234.363 billion RON in the period 3 - 7 January 2022, from 229.078 billion RON recorded in the week of 27 - 31 December 2021.The transactions ...
Green banking exposure at end of June 2021 reaches 5.1 billion RON
Monday, January 10, 2022
The green banking exposure increased starting with June 2015, up to 5.1 billion RON, at the end of June 2021, amounting to 4 pct of the total exposures to the non-financial sector, according to the data published by the National Bank of Romania (BNR)."The strong expansion (320 pct compared to the beginning of the period) of green exposures shows an increasing appetite of banks for green lending and for supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy," is ...
Optional pension funds, assets worth 3.28 billion lei on November 30, up 15pct
Monday, January 10, 2022
Optional pension funds had assets worth 3.28 billion lei, as of November 30, 2021, up 15pct compared to the same date last year, according to a report of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF)."Most of the investments were made locally (91pct), most of them denominated in lei (89pct)," the report states.Government securities had the highest share of assets, of 2.003 billion lei, respectively 61.11pct. On the second place were the shares, with ...
Mandatory private pension funds have assets worth 85.98 billion lei in November, up 18%
Monday, January 10, 2022

Mandatory private pension funds had assets worth 85.98 billion lei at the end of November 2021, up 18% from the level recorded on November 30, 2020, according to the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF)."The investments of privately managed pension funds were 87% focused on Romanian assets, most of them denominated in lei. A large part of the Romanian instruments are represented by government securities or shares listed on the Bucharest stock exchange," the ...