Almost 750,000 fewer individual deposit holders in H1

The value of the population's guaranteed deposits rose in the first half of the year, while company's deposits saw a decline, compared with the end of last year, due to a need for liquidity in the context of the crisis, said Niculae Vulpescu, manager of the Banking Deposits Guarantee Fund, told ZF in an interview. "There was a rise on the individual segment, though less strong than in the same period of 2008. But the important thing is we are seeing a rise. On the corporate segment, however, there was a decline. The need for liquidity explains why they did not set up deposits and even dipped into their savings. Data point to crisis-related problems, which affected us," explained Vulpescu. The value of individuals' overall guaranteed deposits rose by 13.1% against the end of last year, to 90.2 billion RON, accounting for 73% of the overall guaranteed deposits. The number of deposit holders whose deposits are guaranteed by the Fund fell to 17.4 million on June 30th, down 4.2% against the end of 2008. The number of individuals holding guaranteed deposits was down by almost 750,000, to 16.5 million. The fund guarantees deposits set up in any type of bank account (current account, savings account, etc) including the interest rates, up to 50,000 euros.