NBR victory: slight increase for deposit rates

National Bank officials can be at least partially satisfied. Only several days after the warning launched by the central bank (pointing to the much too low ROL-denominated deposit interests), banks are offering slightly higher rates.

BRD (Romanian Development Bank), the second-largest retail bank on the Romanian market, last week okayed a slight increase in ROL-denominated deposit rates and was soon followed by Banc Post. The increase was only 0.5 percentage points, but it is the message that counts, according to analysts. The interest Banc Post pays at present for ROL-denominated one-month deposits has thus reached 12.5%.

NBR governor Mugur Isarescu had said in early August that lending was soaring and that the level of ROL-denominated savings was much too low. He then said that the level of banking interests was still low, and failed to offer real attractive gains in relation to the inflation rate.

“We are once again warning banks that we are rather concerned with the insufficiently attractive level of deposit interests and with the situation of savings. This is a transparent, not an assertive invitation for them to reconsider their deposit policy. The interest rate for time deposits is at stake, even though its average is real positive,” Isarescu stated.

At that time, the central bank also announced one of the monetary policy measures aimed to control market liquidity: a one percentage point increase in the rate it pays the banks for the ROL they deposit at NBR, from 18.25% to 19.25% annually.

Even though the bank had originally intended to slow down the lending growth pace, the “purging” interest rate increase entailed slightly higher interests for ROL-denominated deposits. oana.nuta@zf.ro