Nine foreign banks agreed to keep their money in Romania

Mother branches of nine most important banks from Romania, with foreign capital, signed letter agreeing to maintain their groups’ general exposure in Romania. The nine banks announced the increase in capital for their Romanian subsidiaries, in order to preserve an adequate minimum capital level rate – 10% – during Romania’s Economic Programme, according to the European Commission.

The nine banks are:

• Erste Bank Group

• Raiffeisen International

• Eurobank EFG

• National Bank of Greece

• Société Generale

• Alpha Bank

• Volksbank

• Piraeus Bank

• UniCreditGroup

The banks signed bi-lateral support agreements according to a pattern decided upon in May at Brussels, aiming for the Wien March 26 objectives. The banks cover 70% of the Romanian banking market.

According to the agreement signed, mother-banks will support the Romanian economy: they will keep their groups totally available on the Romanian market and will increase the capital of their subsidiaries to match the 10% adjusting the minimum capital rate for the entire programme duration.

The first evaluation of Romania’s Economic Programme was supported by the international finance institutions and the European Union: An IMF and European Commission delegation evaluated the situation of these arrangements.

The exposure was generally maintained, with some temporary fluctuations included in the main specific transactions. The financial support that the banks with foreign capital offered Romania was consolidated even further and extended through the „club credit”, which a group of banks awarded the Romanian Government in July.