The parent banks of the Romania' s largest nine lenders have reduced their exposure to the country by 8% since March 2009, central bank deputy governor Cristian Popa said Thursday, Mediafax reported.
A survey by Fitch Ratings at the end of 2012 concluded that deleveraging by parents of banks in Central and Eastern Europe - one of the most feared conduits of the Eurozone crisis to the region - remained significant but moderate. Rather, the agency says, foreign domination of CEE banking sectors is positive for regional economic stability, and suggests that reduced in general lending stems from low demand and limited attractive opportunities. Overall, the survey indicates that group funding of the 43 banks surveyed decreased by 20% to €62bn between the end of 2008 and the end of the first half of 2012. 
The parent banks of Romania' s top nine lenders agreed in early 2009 to keep their overall exposure to the country unchanged until April 2011, while ensuring capital adequacy levels over 10% for their local subsidiaries.
In July 2010, the parent banks and Romanian officials reached an understanding under which they were allowed to either increase or decrease their exposure to the country by up to 5% compared to the initial level.
The parent banks were Erste Group Bank, Raiffeisen International, EFG Eurobank, National Bank of Greece, UniCredit Group, Societe Generale, Alpha Bank, Volksbank, and Piraeus Bank. Their combined market share amounts to around 70% of Romanian banking system.
Romanian banking system' s solvency ratio was 14.7% at the end of September 2012.
Meanwhile, Popa said Romanian banks' non-performing loans will continue to rise in the near term, depending on economic growth prospects and the evolution in consumer confidence level. Presently, bad loans account for 17% of the overall lending in Romania.
"Chances are bad loans will continue to increase in the short term," Popa told a news conference.
He said the trend would be reversed once private lending recovers. "In the short run, however, we expect upside pressure on the NPL ratio."
Source: bne