Loading ...Credits transferred so far by local banks into the balance sheets of parent or peer institutions from the groups they are affiliated to amount to some five billion euro, estimates Dan Pascariu, president of UniCredit Tiriac Bank.
"Overall, I reckon that banks operating in Romania have so far outsourced loans worth some five billion euro," Pascariu told Adevarul daily.
Credit institutions seek loopholes to shun the restrictions imposed by the National Bank of Romania (BNR) and further cover the clients’ demand, by transferring loans to banks based abroad.
The bankers say that as long as the minimum mandatory reserve remains high, this practice will continue and even gain ground.
In an effort to keep inflation under control and implicitly prevent the population from getting over-indebted, BNR set several restrictions on local credit institutions. One is the minimum mandatory reserve the banks have to set up for each disbursed loan, which is required to be 20 pct for liabilities in local lei and 40 pct for foreign currency liabilities, far above the limit in use in the other European states.
"As long as the central bank maintains the measures to render credits more expensive, which – as a collateral effect – set Romania-based banks at a competitive disadvantage against similar institutions headquartered abroad, loan outsourcing will continue, or even advance," says Bancpost president Mihai Bogza.
Whereas at mid-2007 governor Mugur Isarescu let bankers understand that the required reserve ratio would be reduced, chances for this to happen are now nil.
Although the transfer of credits abroad brings Romania-based banks certain benefits, in the long run they will be at loss. Under a recently adopted European directive, in two years, the Romanians will have the possibility to seek loans directly from foreign banks, that will thus grow into direct competitors for local institutions.
The Bancpost president added that loan outsourcing is much to the disadvantage of Romanian economy because the state loses a part of the profit tax charged on banks.
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