Diosi, OTP: We're fighting over sound companies
Banks have enough cash and the competition to finance companies
that survived the crisis is getting tighter, says Laszlo Diosi,
head of OTP Bank Romania, a second-ranking player on the Romanian
market, held by the largest Hungarian financial group.
"There is tough competition over good clients. A good company, with
solid guarantees, can get funding in RON at margins of less than
three percentage points above the Robor rate (currently at 6.6% at
three months)," Diosi says.
He says companies that kept their turnover above 500,000 euros per
year are usually sound. Small firms on the other hand, have been
significantly hurt by the crisis and continue to be problematic,
which leads to non-performing loans. In fact, companies' deposits
are dwindling on the entire market, which means they are using
their resources to survive. For instance, OTP refrains from
granting loans to very small firms.
"Retail lending remains very weak. We have adjusted prices,
modified the products, but our sales people continue to say there
aren't clients seeking to take out loans, to make investments,"
Diosi says.