The banking system came out of the pandemic well, and lending rose with the improvement as the sentiment improved and government schemes gave a boost to lending, some bank presidents attending ZF Bankers Summit 2021 on Tuesday said.
Bogdan Neacsu, the new chairman of the board of directors of the Romanian Association of Banks, believes Romania and the banking system came out of the crisis better than they went in.
Bankers are optimistic, but also cautious and have high expectations from the economic growth.
“The question is what will happen with the support measures. I think they will be withdrawn when possible and the economic growth will take over the support role. There is a risk of having the economy grow by 7% to 10%, higher than we expect. It’s not an overheating risk but an economic rebound risk,” said Florin Ilie, deputy CEO of ING Bank.
Romania recovered all it lost in terms of GDP growth in 2020.
The country now has a more competitive, sound banking system, says Omer Tetik, CEO of Banca Transilvania, the largest bank in Romania.
Sergiu Manea, BCR CEO, recommends caution: “I’d be more reserved about saying we’re out of the crisis and everything is over, we must stay on guard.”
Eugen Radulescu, head of the Financial Stability department of Romania’s central bank, said Romania managed to keep a remarkable stability of the exchange rate at this critical time and there was no serious reason to worry about a rise in inflation and leu interest rates.
“The fact that the inflationary rates will increase rates can be seen not only here but also in developed countries. This is amid a much faster and much stronger GDP growth than expected.”
One of the trends that will continue is consolidation on the banking market, with banks for sale.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)