Romania’s largest lender tries to sell EUR 433 mln worth of bad loans

Romania’s largest lender by assets BCR plans to sell a non-performing corporate loan package worth some EUR 433 million, and has mandated PwC to find buyers, according to CoStar Finance, quoted by Ziarul Financiar. Over 80% of the loans’ value is covered by mortgages – two thirds on commercial buildings, and one third, land plots. The 410 non-performing loans granted to 91 companies cover a diverse range of businesses: industry, real estate development, farming and mining. Most of the companies which took these loans are currently insolvent – 90%. Another lender active locally - Bank of Cyprus – has put a EUR 360 million bad loans portfolio up for sale. Once a deal is reached, the bank also plans to transfer 46 employees who manage this portfolio. The Romanian Central Bank has asked banks to speed up the process of removing bad loans from their balance sheets, which also means taking a loss via creating provisions on these loans. Volksbank Romania sells EUR 495 mln non-performing loans portfolio editor@romania-insider.com