EximBank at ZF Bankers Summit
Bucharest, June 22, 2012 – How is the actual banking system seen these days, which are the export trends, how is EximBank involved in supporting Romanian companies during economic crisis, which are the Bank’s results – these are only fey of the questions answered by Ionut Costea, EximBank President during the Bankers Summit Conference organized by Ziarul Financiar.
The Bank’s representative stated that the percentage of state owned banks out of the total banking system should be higher in order to better support the financing activity.
“State owns 6% in the Romanian banking system as compared to almost 40% in Poland. The decision to accept the banks’ privatization was endorsed by the foreign financial institutions, but now discussions emerged to re-nationalize banks in other countries. A solid state owned bank would allow the State to foster certain economy sectors, but the key stays in the level of State involvement in the Bank’s management” added President of EximBank.
He also stated that the State could support the increase of financing activity by the guarantees it is offering.“In EximBank for instance, the guarantees volume has increased 11 times during the last three years, reaching Lei 2 Bln. Most of these amounts go to SMEs and energy companies” said Costea.
Bank’s official also emphasized that the guarantees products offered by EximBank for development projects have not been very well known on the market up until recently, a situation that has been changed due to communication projects.
“We have been visiting along with Romanian Banking Institute and ANEIR almost all Romanian counties in order to present the products for supporting the exports to the business communities. They knew little about them, including people working in the commercial banks. After that we have looked at our internal procedures and have reduced the analysis time”, declared Costea.
As long as the international commerce trends are concerned, Costea stated that Romanian exporters are trying to identify other markets, outside European Union because of the present turmoil affecting the Euro zone.
“It is highly needed that Romanian exporters seek other markets. We are doing all that is needed, even going with them anywhere only to encourage them to look for other markets. There are lots of companies doing this and more and more are coming to us having projects in Iraq, Russia, and South Americas”, the banker said.
He added that the Bank granted guarantees for one export contract in Brazil up to USD 100 Mln. and supported other two Romanian companies that had exports up to Euro 500 Mln.in South America and Russia.