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Austria: Nowotny Reiterates Statement

Ewald Nowotny, governor of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), reiterated his view on Hypo Group.
December 11, 2013


OeNB Calls on Austrian Banks to Strengthen Their Capital Base Further

Presentation of the Financial Stability Report 26 of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB).
December 11, 2013


Slovenia: Bank Bailout Plan Is Completed

Tomorrow, December 12, the results of the bank asset review will be published. The next steps have been determined already in advance.
December 11, 2013


Hypo Group Alpe Adria: Liebscher Against Haircut

Klaus Liebscher, chairman of Hypo Group’s supervisory board, is strictly against a debt cut at the nationalized bank. He expects a decision about a bad bank only in the first quarter next year.
December 10, 2013


Serbia: World Bank Attaches Loan to New Laws

The World Bank has attached the loan in the amount of US-$ 250m (€ 183m) for Serbia to the implementation of three important laws within this year still.
December 10, 2013


NKBM´s CEO Demonstrates Optimism

In an interview with the Slovenian STA, Ales Hauc stressed that the second-largest Slovenian lender has a positive future.
December 10, 2013


Bulgaria: Prime Minister Stresses Positive Development

Plamen Oresharski stressed that Bulgaria has performed better than expected in 2013.
December 10, 2013


OTP Interested in MKB

Sandor Csanyi, CEO of the largest Hungrian lender OTP, considers taking over the rival MKB.
December 9, 2013


Austrian Banking Sector: € 35bn NPL

Due to the gloomy economic situation in CESEE and the stagnating domestic economy, Austrian banks suffer from growing non-performing loans.
December 9, 2013


Major Changes in Hungarian Banking Industry Ahead

The Hungarian government comes closer to its objective. Foreign banks are leaving the country step by step.
December 7, 2013


Sale of Hypo Group: Small Number of Potential Buyers

In 2014, Hypo Group´s assets will be sold. It is not certain whether there will be a bad bank or not. Even a bankruptcy is not completely excluded.
December 7, 2013


Croatia: New Difficulties for Borrowers Ahead

The Croat banking sector pegs the interest rates to the EURIBOR. Consumers may have to pay higher borrowing costs.
December 6, 2013


Poland: Benchmark Rate Remains Unchanged

The Polish National Bank (NBP) holds the reference rate at its record low of 2.5%.
December 4, 2013


Austrian Insurance Companies to Grant Credits

The Financial Market Authority has given green light to Austrian insurance companies for handing out loans. Insurers hope for an improvement in investment income.
December 4, 2013


UniCredit: Withdrawal from Hungary as Potential Option

UniCredit does not completely rule out a withdrawal from the Hungarian market in case further burdens will be imposed on banking institutes.
December 4, 2013


Bratusek: Slovenia Will Manage Bank Rescue

According to Prime Minister Bratusek, Slovenia will manage the bank rescue on its own.
December 3, 2013


Bank Austria: Sales Proceeds for Kazakh Affiliate Dropped

Sales proceeds of Bank Austria’s Kazakh affiliate ATF Bank only came at € 294m which is significantly less than announced by the bank in the first half year.
December 2, 2013


Bosnia: NPLs Increasing Dramatically

Almost 15 percent of the total volume of loans in Bosnia are bad.
December 2, 2013


Austria: President Presses for Progress in Coalition Negotiations

It has been two months after since the coalition negotiations started after the elections for the National Assembley. However, there has been not visible progress.
December 2, 2013


Hungary: Economic Acceleration Takes Form

According to French BNP, the Hungarian economy starts to grow again. Nevertheless, the banking industry does not face better times yet.
November 29, 2013


Sevelda: „We Are Close to the Breaking Point“

In a guest comment published by the Austrian business magazine Format, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank International Karl Sevelda refers to the high burden for Austrian banks.
November 29, 2013


CESEE: Slight Growth Acceleration, but Uncertainties Persist

The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) has published the economic forecast for the CESEE region today. The economic performance varies substantially from country to country.
November 28, 2013


VBAG: No Interest Payments on Participation Capital Until 2016

The partly nationalized Austrian bank group VBAG faces further losses. As a result, VBAG will have to perform interest payments not before 2017.
November 28, 2013


Bank Austria: Drastic Job Cut

The austerity measures at Bank Austria take form. CEO Willibald Cernko refers to the bank taxes.
November 28, 2013


RBI Calls for Better SME Financing in Europe and CEE

RBI CEO Karl Sevelda calls for improvement of SME financing.
November 28, 2013


Bulgaria: More than Half of Citizens Would Not Take Out Bank Loan

According to a survey, almost 60 percent of Bulgarians would not take out a bank loan regardless of the terms.
November 27, 2013


ECB Considers Restricting Credits

The ECB takes the option of restricting banking to industrial enterprises only into consideration.
November 27, 2013


Croatia: HNB Pushes Credits

According to reports by Reuters, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) intends to issue HRK 4bn (US-$ 707m) to support credits. Further details will be published by the Central Bank later this week.
November 27, 2013


Hungary: Monetary Policy Eases Further

Today, Hungary´s National Bank (MNB) has cut the two-week deposit rate to 3.2% from 3.4%. The government is optimistic that the monetary easing will help Hungary´s economy.
November 26, 2013


CESEE: Austrian Banks Face New Challenges

For Austrian banks, the assessment by the ECB may bring new difficulties. Non-performing loans in CESEE are said to be higher than officially known.
November 26, 2013


Hungary. Forex Loans Probed by Supreme Court

Due to the upcoming elections in 2014, Hungary´s government puts pressure on the Supreme Court.
November 25, 2013


Slovenia: Stress Tests Result Published on December 13

Bostjan Jazbec, governor of the Slovenian National Bank (SNB), is optimistic that no Slovenian bank will have to be liquidated.
November 23, 2013


Czech Demand for Housing Loans Still Grows

While demand for consumer loans was down, demand for housing loans is still on the rise. In total, loan growth decelerates.
November 23, 2013


Croatia: Amendmends to Cosumer Credit Law

Interest rates on housing loans pegged to Swiss Franc dropped by 30 percent.
November 22, 2013


EBRD: Eastern Europe “Stuck in Transition“

The European Bank for Restructuring and Development (EBRD) warned that Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Sovjet Union could remain “stuck in transition”, which is the titel of the current report.
November 21, 2013


Slovenia: Share of NPLs Increasing Dangerously

The share of non-performing loans (NPL) in the Slovenian banking sector has increased to 17.4 percent. Losses of the country’s financial institutes are significantly worse on a year-on-year comparison.
November 21, 2013


Hungary: Banks Penalized for Lobbying

The Hungarian competition authority GVH has imposed a penalty running in the millions on domestic and foreign banks.
November 20, 2013


Albania: Governor Calls For Measures for Balanced Financial System

Financial institutes in Albania are struggling with a weak demand in credits as the country has been affected by the economic and financial crisis.
November 20, 2013


Capital Shortfall at European Banks

According to Boston Consulting Group, European Banks still have much work to do.
November 19, 2013


Romania: Banks Keep Risk Margins Unchanged

In spite of the recent cut in the key rate to an all-time low of four percent the financial institutes will not loosen risk policies.
November 19, 2013


Nowotny: Must Avoid Bubble in CESEE

In order to avoid another asset bubble like in 2008, loan growth has to be monitored, governor of Austrian National Bank Ewald Nowotny says.
November 19, 2013


Hungary: NPLs at Record High

The number of NPLs has reached a new record high, according to MNB.
November 18, 2013


Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria Provided with Loan by EBRD

The European Bank for Restructuring and Development will provide Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria EAD with a new loan totaling € 15m.
November 18, 2013


VBAG: Capital Requirement up to € 1.0bn

The partially nationalized Austrian bank needs further capital injections next year.
November 16, 2013


Hungary: Level of Credit Defaults Declining Significantly

According to OTP Bank, the level of credit defaults from borrowers has started to drop to the lowest level since the beginning of the financial and economic crisis.
November 15, 2013


Slovenia Creates Major Bad Bank

In order to reduce the burden on the banking sector, Slovenia´s government wants to shift risky assets to a special purpose vehicle.
November 13, 2013


Macedonia: Foreign Currency Lending Massively Up

Parents of Macedonian banks have only very limited influence on their subsidiaries, the EBRD reports.
November 9, 2013


Bulgarian Banks Suffer from Low Customer Creditworthiness

According to the EBRD, the Bulgarian banks are a source of funding for their parents.
November 9, 2013


Serbian Banking Sector: Weak Regulatory Environment

In the last years, Serbia´s banking industry did not record any significant growth impulses. Foreign-exchange loans were reduced substantially.
November 9, 2013


Romanian Banking Sector Highly Centralized

The EBRD has observed a high proportion of banks reporting that the parent bank´s influence is high.
November 9, 2013