UniCredit seeks to balance its loan/deposit ratio

UniCredit Tiriac Bank saw a significant increase on the savings segment in the last quarter of 2008, when deposits attracted went up by 16% against the previous quarter, while at system level, the rise was much smaller, of 1.1%. On the lending segment, the bank recorded a rise, though marginal, in the last quarter, by just 0.75% – but in the overall system, there was a 1.7% contraction in the volume of loans, eliminating the impact of the euro appreciation against the RON on loans in foreign currency. In the first quarter of 2008, the bank had seen a slower rise than the market on the savings segment. In the second quarter, it rose faster on the lending segment and saw a decline on the savings segment, while in autumn, it outgrew the market on both segments. However, in 2008 as a whole, the bank posted stronger growth on lending than on saving, so the gap between credits granted and deposits attracted widened. Stanislav Georgiev, CFO of UniCredit Tiriac, explains that the loan/deposit ratio has fallen from 145% at the end of last year to 135% currently. He says in the case of UniCredit Tiriac, the bulk of the credit/deposit gap is bridged through funds attracted from the parent bank, so the risk of funding problems is very low.