June came with a rise in margin to 5.76% from a low of 4.91% in April, the lowest in five years and up from the 5.36% in May. The margin stood at more than 6% in the first three months of 2020. The spread between interests on new leu loans to consumers and retail deposits was higher than even the spread between the interests of outstanding loans and deposits in lei, 5.28% in June. The spread for the latter has been going down since the beginning of the year, from 5.77% in January to 5.53% in March and 5.28% in June.
The margins on the new retail loans in lei ranged from 5.6% and 7.3% in 2019.
Local lenders operated at rising margins until the spring of 2019, with a peak of more than 7.5% recorded in the fall of 2009, when banks were charging a 17% to 19% average interest on loans while paying 10% to 15% for deposits.
The lenders’ margin was 2% to 3% in the second half of 2008 and early in 2009 and later went up.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)