Foreign Owners Fed EUR1B Into Romanian Banks In 2012

03.12.2013 By Ciprian Botea

The capital of the foreign-held banks in Romania amounted to 19.7 billion lei (EUR4.5 billion) at the end of last year and accounted for almost 80% of the total capital of the banking system, according to ZF’s calculations based on central bank data.

The foreign capital rose by RON5.2 billion compared with December 2011.

Greek and Austrian financial groups own more than 40% Romania’s banking system. The Austrian capital increased by EUR300 million last year while Greek banks added EUR240 million to the capital of their Romanian subsidiaries.

Hungarian and French-held banks saw the highest rate of increase for their capital, as their owners contributed about EUR1 billion to their capital last year.

Most of the money that foreign shareholders brought was used to offset the losses caused by non-performing loans or for the local subsidiaries to remain within legal solvency limits.

(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)