Capitalization of Romanian banks, comfortably at 14.2%, Central Bank report finds

Romanian banks' capitalization was at a comfortable level of 14.2 percent in June this year, compared to 14.7 percent in December 2009 and 15 percent in December last year, found a recent report published by the Romanian Central Bank (BNR).

"The capitalization level was lower in case of large banks, which registered a solvability rate of 13 percent in June 2011, below the average in the system, but comfortably above the prudential threshold imposed by the surveillance activity,” writes the report over Financial Stability published by BNR on Monday. There was only bank which reported a solvability rate below 10 percent – 9.3 percent in June 2011, still above the minimum threshold of 8 percent, according to BNR, which did not mention the name of the bank. However, this bank only has 0.1 percent of the banking assets in Romania and BNR has asked it to increase its social capital by the end of the year. The Financial Stability Report assesses the soundness of the Romanian financial system and its capacity to withstand the significant challenges manifest during 2010 and the first half of 2011, the factors that influenced the performance of the financial system, as well as its interaction with real economy and external environment. The Report attests that financial stability in Romania remained robust, despite the difficult global and domestic economic conditions in 2010. The report shows that the risks to the banking sector were adequately managed via credit institutions’ own efforts, which translated into higher solvency, provisioning and liquidity. Get the full report Financial Stability Report BNR 2011 (pdf, in Romanian). editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)