At the end of June, exposure to Romania of Erste–which owns BCR, the largest local banking group–stood at EUR8.6 billion.
Wimmer said that, in the current context, BCR’s decision to limit mortgage financing in foreign currency is a right step, as loans in the local currency are the proper answer to the clients’ financial needs.
Erste analyst Juraj Kotian said that banking groups reporting to the Bank of International Settlements, or BIS, have cut their direct lending to Romania by EUR 1.5 billion–about EUR 1.1 billion to banks and EUR400 million to non-banks.
“On consolidated basis, their exposure in Romania remained almost flat in euro terms, while decline in US dollar terms could be explained by EURUSD development,” Kotian said.
“French banking groups cut their exposure by EUR 1.5 billion on consolidated basis, a too high number to be explained by EURRON movement.”