Mihai Bogza, Bancpost: "Deposits of less than 1,000 lei have great overhead"

The largest returns for deposits in lei with a 1-year maturity, do not exceed 10%, but in the case of some banks the interest rate can go as low as less than half of that. Bancpost comes last in terms of interest paid for 1-year deposits for individuals (4%), whereas last year"s inflation rate was 4.74%. However, the bank"s officials said that the bank has various promotional deposits which offer higher interest rates.

Mihai Bogza, the chairman of Bancpost, explained that the aforementioned low interest rate applies to small deposits below 1,000 lei. "For these deposits the overhead of the banks is proportionally greater and since we don"t charge account opening fees, we cover our expenses by paying out lower interest rates", he said.

Mihai Bogza said: "We usually offer our customers interest rates that cover the estimated inflation rate. For instance, we currently offer the "Start" deposit which pays an annual interest rate of 8% for a 100-day deposit and 8.75% for a 4-month deposit, as well as the Olympus deposit which pays 8.50% for six months". He said that these interest rates by far exceed inflation and generate real value for our customers. Mr. Bogza added: "Given the fact that our bank has a very good situation in terms of liquidity, since the beginning of the year we cut our interest rates for deposits, following the multiple cuts of the policy rate operated by the NBR".

At the same time, if inflation continues its downward trend, and competition on the market allows it, the chairman of Bancpost says that the bank is ready to continue to cut interest rates for deposits and for loans.