Cinteza told EU-Cofile seminary organized by Apha Bank, the central bank and the Romanian Banking Association (ARB) that the banking system’s loss this year might exceed the record loss registered in 2012, of RON2.34 billion.
In April, Romania’s central bank asked banks to take some non-performing loans out of their balance sheets, which usually leads to increased losses, as booked provisions and the eventual amounts resulted from selling NPL portfolios may not cover the entire credit values.
Following the process, NPL ratio fell to 15.3% from 22.3%, but Conteza said the decrease should have been sharper, to below 10%.
Romania’s banking system posted an aggregated profit of RON209 million in the first half, much lower than RON1.15 billion in the same period a year ago, as banks continued cleaning their portfolios. (EUR1=RON4.4247)