* Interview with Mihai Bogza, the chairman of "Bancpost"
Reporter: Mr. Chairman, will the financial turbulences create problems in Romania, and cause parent banks to pull money from their Romanian subsidiaries?
Mihai Bogza: It is extremely unlikely that banks would significantly lower their exposure to Romania in the near future, at least as long as Romania will remain a stable enough destination, and attractive enough for their investments.
To the extent that the past guarantees what will happen in the future, the numbers are conclusive. According to data published by the NBR, between September 2010 and September 2011, the balance of nongovernmental credit, namely of lending to the population and companies, rose 6.5%, and the balance of governmental credit, namely loans granted by the banking system to government institutions, rose 20.5%. The increase is significant, considering that the total volume of deposits has increased by only 6.6%. And as we know, banks with foreign shareholders own more than 85% of the total assets, which means that without them this increase wouldn't have been possible.
Furthermore, Romania's foreign debt, over the same period, September 2010/September 2011, has reached 97.8 billion Euros, up 9.8%. These figures show that over the last year, banks have remained active when it comes to lending, moderately on the government market and more on the government market.
Reporter: There are however plenty of reasons to be concerned about the future, seeing, for instance, the suggestions recently made by the Central Bank of Austria...
Mihai Bogza: We should rather be pro-active than pessimistic. What I mean is, as a banker I would compare the attitude which potential investors, including international banks, have about Romania, with how depositors view a bank. You can't force customers to keep their mone
