Diosi, OTP: We're fighting over sound companies

Banks have enough cash and the competition to finance companies that survived the crisis is getting tighter, says Laszlo Diosi, head of OTP Bank Romania, a second-ranking player on the Romanian market, held by the largest Hungarian financial group.
“There is tough competition over good clients. A good company, with solid guarantees, can get funding in RON at margins of less than three percentage points above the Robor rate (currently at 6.6% at three months),” Diosi says.
He says companies that kept their turnover above 500,000 euros per year are usually sound. Small firms on the other hand, have been significantly hurt by the crisis and continue to be problematic, which leads to non-performing loans. In fact, companies’ deposits are dwindling on the entire market, which means they are using their resources to survive. For instance, OTP refrains from granting loans to very small firms.
“Retail lending remains very weak. We have adjusted prices, modified the products, but our sales people continue to say there aren’t clients seeking to take out loans, to make investments,” Diosi says.