EBRD: Eastern economies threatened by lack of bank transparency

Preventing a second crisis in the banking system is the key for economic rebound in this area, Berglof added in an interview published by the Bloomberg news agency.

“I believe that treating Eastern Europe as a whole is not the best method, because we cannot compare the banking system in the Baltic countries, for example, with that in Romania. The confidence in and between Romanian banks is increasing again, due to the Vienna agreement and capital injections. I believe this approach is not justified in Romania’s case,” the Chief Economist of the National Bank of Romania, Valentin Lazea, told Business Standard.

Representatives of commercial banks operating on the Romanian market say that the local banking system had to face this situation last fall, but things are very different now. “Capital Adequacy Ratios are solid, as is liquidity. I would not say that the banking system is fragile at the structural level,” Executive Officer of BRD-Groupe Société Générale, Claudiu Cercel, said.

The General Manager of Banca Transilvania, Robert Rekkers, indicated that the results registered at the end of this first six months by lenders, although below levels posted in the previous few years, prove that the banks have weathered the difficult market conditions well.

However, Mişu Negriţoiu, Head of ING Bank Romania, said that local banks still face hard times.