The National Bank of Romania, IMF and European Commission haven’t changed their strategy at keeping foreign banks’ exposure to Romania at 31 March level, said the deputy governor of NBR, Cristian Popa, adding that international capital flows to the country has been curtailed by 2%.
“We haven’t considered changing the strategy regarding the foreign bank’s exposure and we plan on sticking to the Vienna commitment. Recent data suggest that foreign banks have reduced the funding of their Romanian subsidiaries by 1-2%, according to local calculation standards”, said Cristian Popa (photo).
The deputy governor of the central bank added he didn’t expect the banks’ policy to change, since banks could have cut their exposure if they had wanted, because the Vienna commitment was only a “gentleman’s agreement”.
“However, there are banks that have increased their capital flows to their local subsidiaries, by as much as 100% from March, but to the same extent there are isolated banks that have reduced their exposure”, said Cristian Popa.
Banks, NBR, International Monetary Fund and European Commission are due to meet at Brussels on November 18 to tackle the banks’ foreign money in Romania issue.
