Boteanu, ING: Clients are resuming talks shelved because of crisis

January has paved the way for talks to finance projects that had frozen because of the crisis, says Bogdan Boteanu, 37, deputy general manager of ING Bank in charge of the division dedicated to medium-sized companies (with turnover of between 2 and 50 million euros).

“Talks are being resumed for projects that had been shelved because of the crisis. January was not a spectacular month, but it paved the way for talks. The second half of the year will probably show clearly if we are out of recession or not.”
The banker says there are certain encouraging signals coming from the economy, with the biggest expectations involving industry.
“Sometimes we let ourselves be misled by statistical figures. You also need to “feel” the moves of the economy, and banks can feel the pulse. As far as transport is concerned, there are already signs of a rebound.”
Similarly to other commentators, Boteanu believes exports will not be able to drive the economy out of crisis on their own. At the same time, he says exporting companies are the preferred clients, accounting for over 30% of funding dedicated to medium-sized and small companies.