More slashing of deposit rates

BCR, the leader of the banking system, has cut interest rates for RON-denominated deposits by an average of one percent, but without making RON-loans any cheaper.

The interest the bank now pays for RON deposits now ranges between 6% per annum for one-month deposits and 8% for one-year deposits. The bank did not change the level of interest it pays for two-year deposits, however, which stands at 9% per annum, thus securing a real positive yield (being in excess of inflation). This rate is not fixed and may still go down in the meantime.

According to the bank”s officials, through this interest rate policy the bank wants to boost savings in the long term – at a time when, on average, the maturity of deposits in the system is lower than six months.

This means that, in the case of RON, most banks are dealing with a gap in balance sheet assets, usually with longer maturity terms (loans) in the region of years against balance sheet passives (attracted deposits and loans), which are due in several months or years.

BCR is not really interested in competing on the segment of RON-denominated financing, being one of the few banks still able to offer foreign currency lending. In fact, the bank recently attracted impressive foreign currency sources to fuel lending to individual customers.

Among market leaders, this makes BRD-SocGen the only player not yet to have announced any interest rate adjustments for RON. liviu.chiru@zf.ro