Nicolae Cinteză: I have received no information that the Greek banks have withdrawn money from Romania

• In just one day, the Greeks have withdrawn over 700 million Euros from bank deposits

• Ilie Şerbănescu claims that the Greek banks can not afford to keep their foreign subsidiaries like they did until now and that they may sell them or abandon them

• Florin Georgescu the Minister of Public Finance: "I don't believe we will actually have to use the bridge bank"

• The ECB has cut its funding to Greek banks by half

According to talks between Karolos Papoulias, the president of Greece and the leaders of the political parties, quoted by Reuters, the Greeks have withdrawn over 700 million Euros from banks. During the talks, the president relayed a warning of the Central Bank of Greece, that the population's fear might turn into panic.

When asked whether the withdrawals from the Greek banks have any impact on the Romanian banking system, Nicolae Cinteză, the head of the Oversight Department of the NBR (BNR), said that this is not affecting our country. As for the possibility of the Greek lenders taking money out of our country, he said: "If the parent banks take money out before maturity, they are required to notify me 48 hours in advance, to allow me to calculate certain prudential indicators. I haven't received any information of the kind so far".

Economic analyst Ilie Şerbănescu considers that the withdrawals of 700 million Euros from the Greek banks in one day are insignificant, compared to what the banks have lost following the restructuring of the debt of the Greek state. He said: "Following the haircut, the Greek banks lost about 23 billion Euros. The Greek banks have received 18 billion Euros from Greece, out of the loan taken from the Monetary International Fund. I don't know whether that money will get to the Romanian banks".

If a collapse of the Greek lenders occurred, it would get transferred to Romania, but it would depend on the decisions of the shareholders, for each bank, according to the economic analyst.

Ilie Şerbănescu claims that Greek lenders can no longer support their foreign subsidiaries like they did until now, and they may sell them or abandon them.

However, according to him, the NBR has a program - the bridge loan - by which it can acquire the troubled banks, who said that this could be turned into a benefit for us: "It would be an exceptional opportunity for us to create a core of Romanian banks and I don't think it would cost too much".

Florin Georgescu, the Minister of Public Finance doubts that the authorities will be forced to use the bridge bank, as the Romanian banking system is solid and well capitalized. He said yesterday: "There is a tight cooperation between the Central Bank and the other regulatory institutions - CNVM, CSA, CSSPP and the Government, through the Ministry of Public Finance. We are reviewing the foreign developments, the capital flows, the state of the banks and of the companies they are dealing with. The banking system is solid and well capitalized. There are no reasons for the population or for companies to be concerned".

The Greeks are apparently withdrawing their money from banks due to the fear of a quick devaluation if the country leaves the Eurozone, according to the transcript of the negotiations between Karolos Papoulias and the political leaders.

Monday's withdrawals had a far quicker pace than the one at which the Greeks have been withdrawing money from the banks in 2009, according to Wall Street Journal. Over the last two years, the outflows have usually amounted to 2-3 billion Euros/month, but in January they have exceeded 5 billion Euros. According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Greece, the total deposits of companies and of the population amounted to 165.36 billion Euros at the end of March. At the end of 2009, those deposits amounted to 245 billion Euros.

Greek banks hold about 17% of the total assets of our banking system. Present in Romania are EFG Eurobank through Bancpost, National Bank of Greece through Banca Românească, Agricultural Bank of Greece through ATE Bank, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank under their own name and Emporiki Bank of Greece through Emporiki Bank (member of the Credit Agricole group).

Greek lenders last year reduced their exposure to Romania by 2.34 billion dollars, to 18.8 billion dollars, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements.

• The European Central Bank is reducing its support to the Greek banks

The European Central Bank (ECB) is increasingly turning down the request for liquidity of the Greek banks, making them dependent on the support of the Central Bank of Greece, the Dutch publication "Financieele Dagblad" wrote yesterday, quoting "sources from Brussels". At the end of January, Greek banks have received from the ECB liquidities of 73 billion Euros, but the amount has currently fallen by over 50%.

The ECB is reducing its support, because Greece has halted the recapitalization of its banking system, even though it has received over 25 billion in funding for that.

The officials of the ECB did not comment on the information.

The four main Greek banks - National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, EFG Eurobank and Piraeus Bank - have reported disappointing financial results for 2011. Their losses after taxes exceeded 28 billion Euros.

According to the bankers, lenders with massive losses will be unable to continue to operate if the Greek Financial Stability Fund of Greece (HFSF) does not grant guarantees that it will provide up to 18 billion Euros to increase the share capital of banks. The local banks which will be considered viable by the Central Bank of Greece will need to be recapitalized to reach a Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of 9%.

In order to launch the procedure for the recapitalization of banks, last month Greece received a first tranche of 25 billion Euros from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), according to the second bailout plan agreed with the European Union and the IMF.

The Central Bank of Greece recently notified the Greek lenders that they need to maintain a Core Tier 1 ratio of at least 10%, even though that requirement might be reduced to 9%, according to the requirements of the European Banking Authority (EBA).

The Greek banks have until the end of August to implement their plans to increase the share capital, and if they fail to meet the new requirements they will need to resort to the Greek Financial Stability Fund (HSFS) for recapitalization.