Foreign banks took EUR 2 bln out of Romania

The foreign banks operating in Romania have repatriated over EUR 2 bln from March 31 to June 30 this year. According to the statistics of the Basel-based Bank of International Settlements (BIS), quoted by Agerpres, the French banks registered the largest capital flight. Expressed in EUR, the currency in which most of the sum is denominated, during the aforementioned period the foreign banks' exposure on Romania dropped from EUR 86.23 bln to EUR 84.19 bln. According to the BIS, at the end of June the European banks had an exposure of USD 113.95 bln on Romania, representing 95.75 per cent of the total foreign exposure on Romania.

The foreign banks present in Romania - Erste Bank, Raiffeisen International, Eurobank EFG, National Bank of Greece, Unicredit, Societe Generale, Alpha Bank, Volksbank and Piraeus Bank - took the commitment in Brussels to maintain their exposure on Romania at the level registered at the end of March 2009.

The Austrian banks registered the highest exposure on Romania midway through the year (EUR 30.1 bln, down by EUR 178 M compared to March), while the French banks registered the steepest cuts in exposure during the aforementioned period.

On June 30 the French banks had an exposure of EUR 11.205 bln on Romania, the second largest exposure after Austria's EUR 11.607 bln at the end of the first quarter. Societe Generale's BRD-SocGen subsidiary is the main French bank operating on the Romanian market.

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