Our banking system will see moderate growth on the deposit side this year, whereas lending will remain low, as customers have no money available for consumption, considers Johann Lurf, the president of Volksbank Romania.
He said, in an interview, that there are banks for sale, but that he does not see any possibility of foreign players entering the Romanian banking sector, under the current market conditions.
As for the sale of the bank he leads, Johann Lurf said that in the most optimistic scenario, the process could last between three and five years, and he went on to say that "when you want to sell something you need to have a business at your back.".
Volksbank Romania is currently preparing to become a universal bank, focusing more on the deposit side and less on lending, he said.
The president of Volksbank Romania said that the bank's financial results for 2011 will definitely not be good.
Reporter: How do you view the evolution of the Romanian economy last year?
Johann Lurf: Last year was surprisingly better than forecasted. Everyone was expecting an economic growth somewhere between 0 and 1% at the end of the year, but according to our estimates, it reached approximately 2%, mostly due to the good results in agriculture. It was a surprise, but the segment of agriculture will not be enough for the future.
Reporter: What are your estimates for this year, regarding our economy? Could we reach the forecasted growth announced by the IMF, of 1.5-2%?
Johann Lurf: My expectations are rather cautious. The European economic context does not provide us with an optimistic outlook, on one hand, and on the other hand, I think that Romania still has a lot to do to return to economic growth. From my point of view, the main thing to be done would be to reduce bureaucracy, in order to stimulate economic growth. At any rate,
