English
New banking models will be visible in Romania soon, Radu Graţian Gheţea, president of the Romanian banking association and CEO of CEC Bank announced. "We, the bankers, we have a duty to make lending attractive, with involvement and effort. The situation is favorable, but we need to implement certain things, including restoring confidence in banks and customers, launching new products and improving the customers' and bank employees' financial education".
Radu Graţian Gheţea said that banks are coming up with new products and they are adapting themselves to the market conditions. "In a few years we will be doing a different type of banking, with the taxpayers' presence at the counter being increasingly sporadic", Mr. Gheţea said. The banker emphasized the fact that there is sufficient liquidity in the banking system, as a result of the measures that were taken - the cut of the Minimum Required Reserves and the temporary cut in lending: "Credit is rising, but not at the pace we would want it to".
We have resources, high liquidity and low interest rates, and the new loan to deposits deposits is 91%, which means that the amounts raised from the market are getting placed right away, Radu Gheţea concluded. According to the CEO of CEC Bank, loans account for approximately 35% of the GDP, down compared to the previous years.
Mr. Gheţea said that the European Banking Union is the solution that the EU has come up with to avoid the effects of the crisis, but he added that it should be known that that is not the only solution proposed by the EU countries to fight the effects of the recession.
The Romanian banking community supports the universal bank model, with a new supervision, resolution and regulation system, according to the head of the ARB, who says that, at the same time, the community supports Romania's joining of the European Banking Union: "This also means that we will have a new wave of adaptations to the banking legislation, which will not be very pleasant, because it takes a lot of time and a lot of money is needed to adapt the IT systems". Radu Graţian Gheţea said that the capitalization of CEC Bank is necessary, because the institution enjoys a huge degree of trust, as reflected by the size of its customers' deposits: "CEC Bank holds approximately 10% of the deposits of the overall banking system. We have deposits of over 23 billion lei, of which approximately 13 billion have been lent out. To use the difference between the deposits that we have and the loans that we have granted, we need to have capital resources. If we have more capital resources, we will be able to grant more loans and keep a good solvency ratio".
He added that CEC Bank has many agricultural loans and he said that the bank ended 2014 with a 12% increase in the volume of new loans.
The Romanian Banking Association (ARB) does not endorse any of the projects being promoted for the conversion in lei of loans denominated in foreign currencies, said Radu Graţian Gheţea, who reiterated that he encourages customers to come up with individual solutions together with the banks. The Romanian Banking Association supports the law of individual bankruptcy and considers that, prior to its application, an impact assessment study should be drafted.
Banks would agree with the amendment of Ordinance 46, concerning the granting of tax breaks to those that are unable to pay their loan installments, and they think that is better for these people to benefit from tax credits.
Euro
Dolar SUA
Franc elveţian
Liră sterlină
Gram de aur
