Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (Romanian Savings Bank-CEC) will no longer benefit from full State warranty for deposits, NBR Governor Mugur Isarescu said on Wednesday.
“The medium-term strategy for the banking sector includes modifying CEC’s operational statute. This institution is to become a commercial bank to gradually lose the State’s warranty and later be privatised,” NBR Governor, Mugur Isarescu told the meeting between NBR management and the members of the Romanian Association of Banks.
CEC currently enjoys full State warranty for the deposits of its clients, either natural or legal persons, while the rest of the banking system provides only partial warranty for natural persons, up to an about 74 million lei ceiling per depositor.
This ceiling is to be updated according to the H1 inflation.
Commercial banks have repeatedly requested that CEC should no longer have a special status in the banking system, that is not to benefit from the State’s full warranty, in case it turns into a commercial bank and stops being a savings bank.
The full warranty for deposits made at CEC is an extremely delicate issue and a heated political debate is in store if the full state warranty is withdrawn.
CEC’s total attracted deposits and availabilities amounted to 19,433bn lei at the end of last year, against the 163,590bn lei total in the entire banking system.
CEC chairman Ion Ghica told Ziarul Financiar, “the first things to do are completing the modification of the operating statute, conclude the restructuring process by the end of 2002 and only then we may be talking about CEC’s privatisation.”
CEC’s restructuring is now in progress. ING Barings, the bank appointed last year to provide restructuring and privatisation consultancy for CEC, recommended at the end of the first stage of the project that CEC should continue operating as a retail bank and provide services to the population, as well as to SMEs both in local and in foreign currency.
Isarescu also said that the privatisation of the Romanian Commercial Bank-BCR would be completed by the end of 2002, while Eximbank would be kept in order to promote Romanian exports.