The lending freeze is causing the market to choke on the largesupply of RON and bankers are feeling pressured to finally dosomething to find clients to take out loans. As they have no otheroptions to invest their money, banks "buried" almost 36 billion RON(8.75 billion euros) with the NBR, through the deposit facilitythat should only be used as a last resort for cash left uninvestedat the end of a day of operations.
They resorted to this solution even though the interest rateoffered by the central bank stood at merely 3% a year last month,except for the last two days when it fell to 2.5% a year.
The Finance Ministry's need for cash, raising some 4 billion RONper month, is no longer enough to cover the cash volume of banks,partly fed by the sales of foreign currency of the foreignersinterested in exposure to RON. The overnight ROBOR interest fellbelow 3% yesterday.
Therefore, heavy pressure for banks to resume lending has beenbuilding up.
"Resuming lending has become a necessity for bankers, becauseunless one generates new business, one is no longer able to covercosts and develop. Lending becomes an essential factor because ithas to generate revenues that include the cost of the risk,"comments Rasvan Radu, chief executive of UniCredit Tiriac Bank.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
