The non-performing loans were eightfold higher in the spring of 2014 compared with 2007. Before the financial crisis, the non-performing loans ratio was at 2.5%.
At the middle of 2014, the central bank asked the banks to clean up their portfolios of non-performing loans in a move to resume lending. Thus, banks set up additional provisions, which in some cases decreased their operating profits.
(English version by Manuela Panescu)