Cinteza, NBR: I'm optimistic when I see loans advertised again

Nicolae Cinteza, head of NBR’s Supervisory Department, sees the re-emergence of ads promoting loans as a good sign and he says this change makes him “optimistic”. “For a year there were no ads for loans. Now, they’ve come back, but there’s no demand. Banks have stricter requirements, but people are reluctant to take out loans, too,” Cinteza says. Most banks operated interest cuts in the first quarter, after the signals issued by the NBR, and some players, such as BRD, UniCredit, Bancpost or Banca Transilvania carried out promotion campaigns, inclusively on TV. This is the first time since 2008 when Cinteza replaces “concerns” with “optimism”. Even in February the head of Supervision was concerned about the growth pace of bad loans, with problems moving in turn from consumers to small and then large companies. Now, Cinteza says none of the 42 banks in the system is coping with significant problems. “There are no banks with solvency ratios below 11%. The average per system stands at 14% and I expect it to go beyond 15% after reports are submitted,” says Cinteza.