* Baltazar: "I doubt this measure would be implemented in Romania"
After the European governments have proposed additional taxes on banks in order to lower their budget deficits, which has already been agreed upon by Hungarian, British, German and French authorities, Romanian bankers say that they don"t see any reason for implementing such a measure in Romania, mentioning however that if they were forced to implement it, it would be their customers bearing the burden.
Laszlo Diosi, the general manager of OTP Bank Romania, considers that this decision to levy an additional tax on banks is inappropriate, considering that the state did nothing to help the domestic banking sector.
"Did the state contribute in any way to the Romanian banks? Why should these banks be overtaxed, why not levy such a tax on telecom companies, for instance?", Diosi asked rhetorically.
Discussing the measure proposed by European authorities, the head of OTP gave the example of banks in Great Britain and the US, where the state spent significant amounts in an attempt to aid the banking sector.
"In Great Britain and in the United States of America their respective governments spent public money to bail out the banks, and now they want it back. But in Romania, banks have received no aid", said Diosi.
What"s certain is that the Executive has not yet presented a clear form of the new tax on banks, as confirmed by Nicolae Cinteză, the head of the Monitoring Department of the Romanian National Bank.
Contacted by BURSA, Bogdan Baltazar said the following: "In Europe, banks had an extremely important role, perhaps even being the decisive factor in the beginning of the economic crisis, unlike in Romania, where, in opposition, the banking system has been the most solid economic sector. I don"t see why such a measure would be introduced in our country".
Adria