Banks revert to two-digit interests to boost savings

The hunger for RON is persuading more and more banks to offer 10% interest rates on RON deposits, as well as monetary rewards to clients that save over the coming months.
BRD, the second-largest player on the market, has joined an ever growing group of banks that have reverted to two-digit interest rates in order to attract RON on the market by paying 10% a year for deposits, which mature in twelve months, and 9.5% for six-month deposits.
At ING, those clients who will have 1,000 RON more in their accounts on May 15 than they did on April 1 will get a 50 RON bonus besides the 7.5% interest per annum, which takes the “total interest” to 44% a year.
The windows and shop fronts of banks are already full of advertisements that promote a 10% interest rate.
Alpha Bank upped the ante, after it launched 10.5% per annum for six-month deposit certificates taken on May 31, with 10% offered for three and nine-month certificates. Caught in the frenzy to stimulate savings, banks are turning a blind eye to the costs such interests entail, as they are forced to have 20% of the amounts raised through such campaigns frozen with the NBR. With a powerful parent-bank behind them or not, players like Raiffeisen, Bancpost, Banca Transilvania, UniCredit and Credit Europe Bank have launched savings products whose interest stands at 10% or 10.5% such as in the case of Piraeus Bank, which indicates a clear need for cash, beyond the concern to shield depositors from the inflation and the rallying of interest rates to the increases operated by the central bank.
NBR sent out several warning signals about the risks of a cash shortage last week: Governor Mugur Isarescu said time was near when banks might need to resort to the loan facility provided by the central bank, first vice-governor Florin Georgescu met with the banks’ treasurers to warn them that the liquidity of the monetary market would plummet at the month’s end, when large payments were expected to be made by companies to the state budget and to advise them to buy government securities to get access to overnight Lombard credits. Moreover, the Regulation Department issued a draft to modify the liquidity requirement whereby banks are bound to demonstrate that they can apply emergency plans to overcome shortages of cash that may arise in times of crisis.
Dealers, however, are sceptical about NBR’s advice to invest in government securities, as this would require them to have their cash blocked. In addition, interests on government securities do not go beyond 9.5%-10% a year, while NBR charges a 12% interest rate per annum on the Lombard credit facility.
The central bank’s warnings take into account last year’s experience when the cash in the system suddenly vanished.
Bankers back then blamed the NBR for a lack of coordination from its market operations, which eventually resorted to RON inflows through repos. From March through May 2007, banks consistently turned to the NBR for a total of 10.2 billion RON (2.92 billion euros) in loans, with the interest charged at the time standing at 14% per annum.