“We have an active project portfolio for the next two months. We are noticing banks’ ‘hunger’ for viable assets, despite the perception that there’s a reluctance to lend, and we very much want to take part in this competition,” Bitu said.
“Unfortunately, there’s still a low demand for investment loans and the foreign direct investment is reduced, but there are sectors that have recovered better, from automotive to metallurgy and retail, and we see a rebound even on the non-food area despite the still very low overall domestic consumption”.
While she sees “certain signs of economic recovery,” Bitu does not believe one can speak about a true exit from crisis, having upbeat expectations only for as late as 2012-2013.
Two “lively” fields persistently wooed by bankers lately are green energy and healthcare services. “We haven’t tapped [wind energy projects] as we’re interested in more complex projects, project finance structures,” she said. Instead, ING is looking at environmental investments in the energy sector.
As for healthcare services, where ING has for instance funded Sanador hospital project, Bitu says there is an overheating risk because of the many clinic and hospital launch initiatives, but this is a natural phenomenon given the poor quality of public services. “We’ve financed this segment, we’re looking at another hospital project and we’re still open”.
As for “industries facing hardships”, she believes the constructions sector and the telecom market are some examples in this regard, but adds ING is nonetheless interested to finance large infrastructure projects.