Bank assets top 50% of the GDP

Last year bank assets exceeded 50% of GDP for the first time, approaching 50 billion euros, according to estimates by the National Bank. At the end of November 2006, NBR statistics indicated that lending institutions held assets worth 47.7 billion euros, up by almost 39% against the corresponding period of 2005. The banking market continues to dominate the Romanian financial system as the capitalisation of the stock market has become less dynamic, and the insurance and leasing markets have yet to reach even 5% of GDP. According to NBR calculations based on data received from the Insurance Supervision Committee, the insurance market stagnated in 2006 in terms of the share held by insurance premiums of GDP, estimated at some 2% of gross domestic product. The market of leasing services, expressed by the value of contracts closed, considered in relation to the GDP, preserved its advance over the insurance market, although not as high as before due to the slowdown of the growth compared with 2005.