The restructuring pace, however, slowed down this year, after about 1,800 employees left the banking system in 2015, while almost 400 branches were closed.
Romania’s banking system had 55,796 employees at the end of September, while the number of branches and offices had dropped towards 4,800.
More than one quarter of the bank branches have been closed after the onset of the economic crisis compared with 2008, and more than one fifth of the people who used to work in the system that year left it.
Banks continued to close branches in the third quarter, so the number of branches and offices was 38 lower at end of the September, but started hiring again, so they had 71 more employees.
The drop in operating costs following the changes in the number of branches and employees, as well as the reduction in the lending risk costs helped the banking system remain profitable and post 3.7 billion lei (EUR820 million) profit in January-September. (EUR1=RON4.5124)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)