FINANCIARUL – ultimele stiri din Finante, Banci, Economie, Imobiliare si IT

According to a study carried out by the International Monetary Fund /IMF/ some 75 percent of the Romanian banks belong to parent-banks from only three countries, namely Austria (40 percent), Greece and France.

The stand-by agreement between Romania and the IMF, signed at the beginning of May, mixes tough political measures, sustained by a consistent financial support.

One of the fields a great attention is given to is the banking sector, given its impact on the success of the anti-crisis measures, the text of the agreement and the letter of intention made public by the IMF read.

The measures stipulated in the IMF Agreement aim at ensuring both the capacity of the banking sector to deal with the crisis’ effects and the possibility for the authorities to intervene efficiently in case some banks would need help.

According to the IMF, the flexibility of the exchange rate will alleviate the cirsis’ effects.

The IMF experts say that the programme foreseen in the Agreement will be useful to cushion financial vulnerabilities in the area and prevent spreading in other emerging countries of the effects of an eventual deepening of the crisis in Romania.

The Romanian banking sector has entered the period of financial turbulence with a solid solvency, but the non-performing credits have increased rapidly.

Although the average solvency indicator was 12.3 percent at end-2008, the pressure on the exchange rate, while 55 percent of the credits were in foreign currency, has determined a decrease of the credits performances, a stress test made in November showing that several banks were significantly lacking cash.

Under these circumstances, based on the Agreement with the IMF, the central bank (BNR) had to take warranty measures so that the solvency indicator maintained at over 10 percent the long of the entire support programme.

The foreign banks committed themselves to support their offices in Romania, to maintain their exposures in Romania the long of the validity period of the IMF Agreement and to re-capitalize their Romanian outlets, in case of necessity.

In order to strengthen confidence in the authorities capacity to control any potential difficulties occurred in the banking sector, the programme stipulated by the IMF Agreement stipulates the modification of the banking laws and the bankruptcy law.

One of the main targets is to consolidate the capacity of the administrator of a bank to deal with the situation of difficulty a bank could find itself, and the BNR will have the right to demand the significant shareholders to bring capital and limit the profits’ distribution.

In this respect, a temporary preferential status will be given to the banks whose majority shareholder signs a commitment to maintain the global exposure in Romania, according to the stress test’ results, and to increase the bank’s capital in accordance with the necessities which might occur.

For these banks, any new subordinate loan given either by the shareholders or by an international financial body will be excluded from the calculation basis of the minimum compulsory reserves.

The measure is valid for all the banks operating in Romania, regardless of the country the main shareholder comes from.

The said loans will be taken as Tier I capitals, so that the rules regarding the rate of the capital’s aptness to be further applied.

The IMF demanded the alteration of the deposits’ warranty scheme, so that the guarantees to be paid in less than 20 working days, according to the EU directives.

Simultaneously, the Deposits Guaranteeing Fund of the Banking System will add its existing funds by accessing the sums obtained by the Government from privatisations.

The stakes of the attention given to the Deposits Guaranteeing Fund is the increase of the confidence in the banking system, where the guaranteeing scheme has a crucial part.

Currently, the population’s deposits in the limit of 50,000 euros are guaranteed.

The IMF experts say in the Agreement that the world financial body is determined to bring the Romanian accountancy standards in compliance with the international practice.