Romania Paid Bonuses Worth RON9M For 2010 Housing Savings

05.26.2011 By Bostan Radu

Romanian housing bank clients received 9 million lei (EUR2.17 million) from the state this week, as the first tranche of bonuses provided by the authorities for last year's savings, according to Development Ministry state secretary Eugen Curteanu.

The state each year provides a bonus of 25% of the amount saved up for a home by the clients of the two banks on the savings and loan segment - Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte and BCR Banca pentru Locuinte - up to EUR250.

Curteanu took part Thursday in a seminar on the savings and loan system, in Vienna, and later said the Romanian government is to pay a total RON81 million in bonuses for savings made last year. The remaining funds will be allotted according to the budget revision later in the year.

At the end of last year, the two Romanian housing banks had a combined portfolio of 324,000 clients, or 1.6% of the entire population.

Alexandru Ciobanu, head of the Romanian Housing Bank Association (ABDLR), said their number might increase to one million clients, 5% of the population, in the next five years.

Moreover, Marius Solescu, vice-president of Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte, said the penetration rate might reach 15% in the current market conditions and without any new players.

The savings and loan system was introduced in Romania in 2004 and penetration is much lower than in the rest of the region, in states such as Hungary (13%), Croatia (16%), Slovakia (20%) or the Czech Republic (49%). (EUR1=RON4.1333)