“Erste, through BCR, is the largest lender in the country and we are just in the process of increasing our investment in Romania. It is 100% clear that BCR wants and will continue to finance the Romanian economy,” Treichl told Mediafax by phone.
“Romania’s future is very closely linked also to the future of BCR,” he added.
Treichl said BCR is well capitalized and the Austrian central bank’s planned measures to curb lending in central and eastern Europe should not affect Erste’s development plans in Romania.
“These liquidity restrictions will become a problem if consumer lending starts growing and it starts growing not in lei, but in euros, and the euro deposits in Romania do not grow at the same pace… But again, for the next couple of years, I do not see this as a problem at all and it will not limit our ability to finance growth in Romania,” he added.
The National Bank of Austria last week recommended the country’s banks to limit lending to their subsidiaries in the CEE region, linking future loans to growth in local refinancing.
Treichl said Erste has agreed in principle with the central bank’s recommendations, but if the guidelines were to be transposed into a regulation, then the new measures should be taken in agreement with the central banks of the countries directly affected.