Romanian Banking System Posts RON261M Net Profit In February

The lenders’ return on equity, or ROE, stood at 5.3% in February, up from 1.3% a month earlier, Ion Dragulin, head of the central bank’s financial stability division, told a seminar in Bucharest.

Dragulin said the return on assets, or ROA, rose to 0.5% in February from 0.1% the month before.

The central bank’s official said Romanian lenders had a rather difficult start in 2010 when it comes to profitability, but the situation has „obviously” changed for the better and the performance in the system is mostly good.

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„The solvency rate in the region remained unchanged and in some cases it even increased. In Romania, as well as in other states in the region, the financial agreements with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union called for a higher solvency rate from banks,” Dragulin said.

He said the minimum solvency rate in Romania increased to 10% from 8% previously.

According to central bank data, the solvency ratio of the Romanian banking market reached 14.03% at the end of 2009, while the index for immediate available liquidity was 34.43%.

Early 2009, Romania secured a EUR20 billion aid package from the IMF, the EU and other international lenders to cushion the effects of the recession.

The parent banks of Romania’s largest nine lenders agreed at the time to maintain overall exposure to the country by April 2011 and ensure capital adequacy levels over 10% for their subsidiaries.