JP Morgan: Greek banks' withdrawal from Romania, not a big problem for banking sector

The potential withdrawal of Greek banks from Romania would not pose such a big problem for the local banking sector, the authorities having the necessary resources to take over the branches and sell them later to other financial groups, while the National Central Bank (BNR) can absorb the shocks, according to JPMorgan, quoted by Mediafax newswire. The analysts note that BNR could manage the risks related to the Greek banks,and the branches do not have own exposure on Greece’s state debt and are well capitalized. The problems in Greece really affected the Romanian currency, but this was also affected by increased aversion of investors to the global risk, notes JPMorgan. In the economic outlook, JPMorgan estimates that Romania's GDP will grow by 2 percent this year, and by 4 percent in 2012, the biggest risk to the Romanian economy being slowing down the recent global economic activity. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com