Banks fill BNR's accounts instead of looking for clients to lend to

Autor: Ciprian Valentin Botea 11.05.2011

Bankers prefer to place their money with the BNR (Romanian central bank) at an interest of just 2.25% a year on leu-denominated deposits in order not to take any chances on the economy.

Banks placed an average of 1.3 billion lei in each working day of this year (around EUR320 million) in BNR's overnight deposit facility, amid an excess of liquidity on the market that bankers are unwilling to invest in loans.

Therefore, the first four months saw cumulated deposits of RON113 billion (EUR26.7 billion) through the permanent overnight facility. April alone saw RON34.6 billion in deposits, 7.5% more than the 2010 monthly average.

"The liquidity level is satisfactory, but many banks prefer to have above-necessary liquidity, at the risk of being less profitable. In addition, loan demand is as yet weak because many companies have postponed investment plans in order to analyse whether the investments are necessary at this time," comments financial analyst Aurelian Dochia.

The volume of loans granted to companies and to consumers fell 1.3% in March against February, to RON203.9 billion (EUR49.6 billion), according to the latest data published by the central bank. (EUR1 รข RON 4.0885)