Romanian banks lag behind in terms of ROE

The return on equity of Romanian banks stood at 11.4% last year in Romania, whereas Poland, the country with the best-performing banking system in the region, saw a 27.7% ROE (return on equity), according to a research report of the Raiffeisen Group. Banking system performance indicators place the Romanian system in one of the last places in the region. “A good level is of over 15%. But there are banks with a more aggressive policy that want more, which set a 25% minimum level, for instance,” says financial analyst Dragos Cabat, Managing Partner of Financial View Consulting firm. The ROE average, which takes into account the eight most developed countries in Central and Eastern Europe stands 18.5%, so Romania is 7% below the regional average. Other countries positioned below the average performance of banking systems in Central and Eastern Europe are Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.