Big banks don't give branches up, average salary stays the same

Busy assimilating Ordinance 50 on credit contracts, banks went through the third quarter of the year without any major cost cutting moves - personnel restructuring and/or network restructuring, with the average salary reported to the central bank remaining over 3,000 RON in net amount.

The national network of bank branches was cut by 48 branches in the third quarter, with 6,187 branches and offices left on the market, 277 less than a year ago. Compared against the peak reached in December 2008, banks have closed 365 branches, the equivalent of a big local banking network.

Amid the prolonged recession, the shrinking of the territorial network accelerated this year: 238 banking branches disappeared in nine months, compared with 127 in 2009 as a whole.

Big banks tend to cling on to their territorial networks, seeking to get as good a start as possible for when the market rebounds. Players in the upper echelon such as BCR and Banca Transilvania continued to open branches, and plan to do so in the future, as well. The exceptions are CEC Bank, which has closed 136 offices since the beginning of this year, having 1,351 branches at the end of 2009 - many of which in rural areas and small towns, and Volksbank, which has virtually suspended its lending activity.