Consumer credit company Provident Financial Romania granted in the first half of this year loans worth more than EUR 42 million, up from 30 million EUR at the end of June 2009. The company had at the end of June 2010 over 187,000 customers, up from 120,000 customers in June 2009. Its revenues went up to nearly 30 million EUR from 17.5 million EUR in the first half of 2009.

The amount for which a company can ask for another company's insolvency will increase from the current level of RON 30,000 (approximately EUR 7,000) to RON 45,000 (around EUR 10,400), according to Radu Ghetea, the president of the Romanian Bank Association (ARB).

The European Commission has warned Romania it would start the infringement procedures against the country of it won't change the legislation which stated the drop in salaries for Romanian Central Bank (BNR) employees. According to the EC, this is against certain provisions in the EU Treaty, according to Mediafax quoting official sources.

Security company Scorseze Security will watch over the Bucharest metro security in the next four years, after the company signed a EUR 12.1 million (RON 51.79 million) contract with state company Metrorex. The public contract was offered after a negotiation procedure, according to a Metrorex announcement. The state company had received three offers for security services in the metro system.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects Romania to post an economic drop of 3 percent this year, which will reflect the evolution in the first quarter of the year and the fiscal measures taken as part of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Movies in Bucharest cinemas this week-end: Knight and Day, Get Him to the Greek- watch trailers. See what other movies are coming up in the following weeks.

Week-end events in Bucharest, July 23-25

Romanian film “Cinema Caravan” (Caravana cinematografica) by Titus Muntean is one of the seven feature length movies which have been selected for the Independent Movie Festival Anonimul. The festival will take place between August 9 and 15 at Sfantu Gheorghe, in the Danube Delta. The seven movies are competing for a prize of USD 3,000, which will be offered based on the votes coming from the festival's public.

Romanian nutritional supplements producer PlantExtract will build a drug production factory in Cluj – Napoca with an investment fund of EUR 2.5 million. This will be the company's second production unit. It will be located in Tetarom I industrial park and will double the company's production capacity.

This is a story written by Steven van Groningen on his personal blog. A story about non-performing loans, Romanian accounting standards and the country's risk premium. A must-read story written by a banker in Romania.

Consumer credit company Provident Financial Romania granted in the first half of this year loans worth more than EUR 42 million, up from 30 million EUR at the end of June 2009. The company had at the end of June 2010 over 187,000 customers, up from 120,000 customers in June 2009. Its revenues went up to nearly 30 million EUR from 17.5 million EUR in the first half of 2009.

The amount for which a company can ask for another company's insolvency will increase from the current level of RON 30,000 (approximately EUR 7,000) to RON 45,000 (around EUR 10,400), according to Radu Ghetea, the president of the Romanian Bank Association (ARB).

The European Commission has warned Romania it would start the infringement procedures against the country of it won't change the legislation which stated the drop in salaries for Romanian Central Bank (BNR) employees. According to the EC, this is against certain provisions in the EU Treaty, according to Mediafax quoting official sources.

Security company Scorseze Security will watch over the Bucharest metro security in the next four years, after the company signed a EUR 12.1 million (RON 51.79 million) contract with state company Metrorex. The public contract was offered after a negotiation procedure, according to a Metrorex announcement. The state company had received three offers for security services in the metro system.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects Romania to post an economic drop of 3 percent this year, which will reflect the evolution in the first quarter of the year and the fiscal measures taken as part of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Movies in Bucharest cinemas this week-end: Knight and Day, Get Him to the Greek- watch trailers. See what other movies are coming up in the following weeks.

Week-end events in Bucharest, July 23-25

Romanian film “Cinema Caravan” (Caravana cinematografica) by Titus Muntean is one of the seven feature length movies which have been selected for the Independent Movie Festival Anonimul. The festival will take place between August 9 and 15 at Sfantu Gheorghe, in the Danube Delta. The seven movies are competing for a prize of USD 3,000, which will be offered based on the votes coming from the festival's public.

Romanian nutritional supplements producer PlantExtract will build a drug production factory in Cluj – Napoca with an investment fund of EUR 2.5 million. This will be the company's second production unit. It will be located in Tetarom I industrial park and will double the company's production capacity.

This is a story written by Steven van Groningen on his personal blog. A story about non-performing loans, Romanian accounting standards and the country's risk premium. A must-read story written by a banker in Romania.