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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