Mircea Coşea: "This is not about nationalizing bank deposits"

Regarding the strategy of the Union of Savings and Investments, economic and financial expert, university professor Dr. Mircea Coşea, told us: "This is not about the so-called nationalization of bank deposits, which has been rumored online, and there should be no panic on this issue. The problem is related to attracting, stimulating these private savings, either through capital funds or through various bank stimulation instruments, by including them in the rearmament fund. This means participating with shares in certain state-owned companies, supporting special funds, with the hope that people will make a profit. We are not talking about nationalization or the obligation of citizens to cede their savings from bank deposits to the state. According to the latest data published in the British press, the European Union is facing a very great difficulty in finding solutions to stimulate private capital and, in particular, the population's savings to participate in these military investment funds, because the risk is very high and there is also a tendency to protect these savings against the will that certain states or European institutions may have under conditions of crisis, which would also mean war conditions, especially there is still talk about the fact that Europe could enter a military conflict in the next 4-6 years. For now we are talking about an idea, which will have to be worked on, presented in such a way that there is a real attractiveness and a guarantee from private funds to participate in this great action of collecting funds for the arms industry. There is a major interest in this project from France and Germany who want to transform their automotive industry into an arms industry. We are basically talking about the national interests of these states and I don't know why Romanian or Bulgarian citizens would be interested in investing in Volkswagen."

One of the aspects that the European Commission's strategy for establishing the Savings and Investment Union does not take into account is the fact that in our country such a project would not be favorable to Romanian entrepreneurs. Of the over 670,000 companies that annually submit their balance sheets to the Ministry of Finance, very few are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange or borrow from investment funds. Most entrepreneurs make investments from their own funds or borrow from the bank. Given that it is possible that, after the implementation of the strategy designed by the European Commission, customers with bank deposits will exit this system, what will banks lend to companies in our country? From each bank's own funds? These will quickly run out and banks risk running out of liquidity.

Regarding the above issue, we also recall that the Ministry of Investments and European Projects has failed in the last two years to find 280 companies to be financed with 38 million euros from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to list on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Although two calls were organized, only three companies participated, of which only one could access, but this one, after completing the preliminary steps, also wants to withdraw from the project.

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Regarding this aspect, Mr. Mircea Coşea told us: "I believe that Romanian companies will benefit very little or not at all from this mobilization of the population's savings, for the following reasons. First of all, the population's savings in our country represent very little compared to the share they have in other countries. In our country, the population's savings are still below the banking potential, people preferring to keep their money in the mattress or invest in real estate or buy a better car. Therefore, the volume of these bank savings is smaller compared to other states. Secondly, the Bucharest Stock Exchange has a much smaller development compared to the stock exchanges in other European states. The problem that arises is the one raised by the British press regarding the methods or means necessary to attract savings from the population's bank deposits. Will there be some armament programs on different types of activities to which citizens can contribute? Will there be some participations in institutions, units or armament factories or will there be a collection at the level of a uniform, national fund, which will be used for armament? In all these cases, it is very unlikely that this will be achieved in Romania. My opinion is that for now we are in a situation where there is a lot of talk and very little action - let's see what will be achieved, and Romania is not in the area of European states that will take advantage of this. This situation is due to internal causes, but also to the fact that the he European Union is focusing on large projects that will be financed from these funds, projects that will not be carried out in Romania. It has already been decided that large armament projects and military projects with Artificial Intelligence will be located elsewhere, not in Romania. So it will be difficult for Romanian citizens to invest in an arms factory in Germany or Poland or even in Bulgaria. There is no credibility, there is no security and there is no information".

He stated that he would like banks in our country to become players in the future Savings and Investment Union, because it would mean an evolution of the Romanian banking system.

However, Mircea Coşea showed: "I doubt that it will be like that, because banks in Romania are in a favorable situation; they have a secure client, which is the Romanian state. He constantly borrows from banks, he is a fair debtor, he pays the installments when he has to, and that is why I do not believe that the banks in our country will choose another, riskier and less well-known path, when they have a well-known and favorable one at hand: the loan to the Romanian state".