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Russia: Consumer Loans Growing Substantially
At the moment, the market for consumer loans is growing by 40%. The household indebtedness is still relatively low.
February 13, 2013
Erste Group Finances Major Slovak Real Estate Project
Erste Group’s Slovak subsidiary co-refinances City Business Centre in Bratislava with EUR 34.5 million.
February 11, 2013
Hungary´s Economy to Recover?
Hungarian Minister of Economics György Matolcsy says that the country may achieve the turnaround this year. Last year, several adverse factors occurred at the same time, Matolcsy explained.
February 7, 2013
Slovenia´s Banking Industry in Distress
Due to the economic crisis, the lending business goes down. The indebtedness of the real economy remains high. Funding costs are increasing.
February 5, 2013
Poland: Banks Continue to Tighten Lending Policy
NBP Report: In the fourth quarter of 2012, the banks continued to reduce the availability of loans to households and small and medium-sized enterprises. The banks expected demand for housing loans to decline sharply in the first quarter of 2013.
February 4, 2013
Croatia: New Difficulties for Banks Ahead
Croatia´s National Bank is said to increase the coverage ratio for non-performing loans.
February 1, 2013
Orban: „Agreement with IMF Unlikely“
According to Hungary´s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the IMF tries to put pressure on Hungary.
February 1, 2013
Hungary: Lending Declines
Household and non-financial corporate sector interest rates: December 2012.
January 31, 2013
OeNB: Austrian Banks Remain Cautious
According to Austrian National Bank, the Austrian banking industry tends to keep the strict lending policy in the corporate banking sector.
January 30, 2013
Slovenia: Corporate Lending Falls Considerably
Due to the difficulties in the Slovenian banking sector, the real economy suffers from a credit crunch.
January 30, 2013
Serbia: Foreign Debt Grows
Despite eurobond issue, private sector deleveraging led to mild foreign debt growth, Raiffeisen Research reports.
January 30, 2013
Stepic on Austrian Banking Sector: „There is some Need for Reforms”
In an interview with the Austrian newspaper “Presse”, RBI`s (Raiffeisen Bank International) CEO Herbert Stepic explains that the current situation of the Austrian banking sector is ambiguous.
January 19, 2013 · Updated: January 19, 2013; 19:31
Stepic: „CESEE Region Faces Challenging Year“
RBI´s (Raiffeisen Bank International) CEO Herbert Stepic explained that central, eastern and southeastern Europe is still Europe´s growth engine.
January 15, 2013
CEE Banking Study 2013: “Banks Rebalance Their Business Models” (3)
Foreign players have an important role in the local markets and increased the share of CEE assets within their groups' total assets over the last years.
January 15, 2013
CEE Banking Study 2013: “Banks Rebalance Their Business Models” (2)
Total assets and lending have grown steadily since 2008, even though at a slower pace than before the crisis and with a stronger focus on domestic funding sources.
January 15, 2013
CEE Banking Study 2013: “Banks Rebalance Their Business Models” (1)
The CEE banking sector keeps showing good profitability with revenue margins narrowing but still above Western European levels.
January 15, 2013
Fitch: Austrian Banking Industry Depends on CESEE
According to the U.S. rating agency, the situation of Austrian banks strongly depends on the development in central, east and southeast Europe.
January 14, 2013
Serbia: External Debt Growing Due to Euro Revaluation
Up by € 746.4m or 3.1% from end-June 2012, external debt of the Republic of Serbia totalled € 24.8bn at end-September 2012.
January 11, 2013
Austrian FMA Sharpens Lending Rules for Foreign Currency Loans
The Austrian Financial Market Authority changes the rules for banks which grant foreign currency loans.
January 2, 2013
Poland Promotes Privatizations
This year, Poland´s revenues from privatizations total more than € 2.3bn.
December 30, 2012
Outlook: Europe Remains Under Threat
The European debt crisis will remain a major issue, Austrian Erste Group says.
December 28, 2012
Bulgaria: Lending Grows Substantially
In November 2012, the annual growth rate of broad money (monetary aggregate M3) was 10.1% compared to 8.6% in October 2012.
December 28, 2012
Bulgaria: Moderate Increase in External Debt
The gross external debt1 amounted to € 36,668.7m (92.8% of GDP2) at end-October 2012 increasing by EUR 823.2m (2.3%) from end-2011 (EUR 35,845.5m, 93.1% of GDP).
December 27, 2012
CESEE: Deposit Growth Slows Down
Given the sketched regional loan growth dynamics and their most important drivers it comes as no surprise that deposit growth rates in CEE also decelerated in recent months, Raiffeisen Research states.
December 21, 2012
CESEE Asset Quality: “Not out of the woods”
In terms of asset quality the banking sector trends in CEE remain a mixed bag, Raiffeisen Research says.
December 20, 2012
Raiffeisen: “No signs of a regional deleveraging trend in CEE”
Cross-border exposures of European BIS-reporting banks to CEE (and the subregions CE and SEE) showed a modest decline in Q2 2012. This performance was driven by a cut in more or less all relevant CEE countries.
December 20, 2012
CESEE Banking Sector: Improving Market sentiment, but Slower Growth
The average CEE loan growth slowed to16-17% yoy in Q3 from 19% in Q1/Q2, Raiffeisen Research says.
December 20, 2012
Erste Group: Massive Cuts in Romania
Due to the weak performance of BCR, the Austrian bank plans to lay off 1,600 employees in Romania. BCR´s NPL quota remains on a high level.
December 18, 2012
Bulgaria: Lending Growth Close to Freezing Point
The increase in deposits also decelerates. The annual rate of growth of money supply (measured by means of the M3 aggregate) slowed down in October to 8.6% (it was 8.8% in the previous two months), Raiffeisen Research says.
December 14, 2012
Interest Rates Reach New Record Low
Today, the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) has presented the development of interest rates in the third quarter. OeNB does not fear a credit crunch.
December 4, 2012
Rothensteiner: „No Credit Crunch“
Walter Rothensteiner, CEO of Austrian Raiffeisen Zentralbank, thinks that the capital shortfall of European banks does not limit credit supply.
December 3, 2012
Czech Republic: Deposits Grow Substantially
At the end of September, client deposits at Czech banks reached CZK 3,100bn. Compared to September 2011, this is an increase by 8.3%.
December 1, 2012
Hungary: Small Concession for Banking Industry
The banking sector in Hungary is under pressure. The government in Budapest decided to pay back debts of municipalities by the end of the year.
November 24, 2012
Slovenia to Sharpen Austerity Measures
The Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa announced that the austerity policy will be implemented even more consequently.
November 20, 2012
Ukrainian Banking Sector Expands Slightly
Despite the economic slowdown in the Ukraine, lending is on the rise.
November 19, 2012
Treichl: Austria Should Cooperate with CEE Countries
Erste Group´s CEO Andreas Treichl thinks that CEE countries and Austria should create a model region in Europe like the Scandinavian countries did.
November 16, 2012
Romania Hopes for New IMF Loan
The economic situation remains gloomy. Foreign direct investments are weakening. The economic outlook is rather decent.
November 13, 2012
CESEE: Lending Shrinks
Foreign banks reduce lending in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Hungary and Southeastern Europe are most affected.
November 12, 2012
CEE Deleveraging Remains Moderate
Austrian, German and Italian banks kept lending to CEE6 (except Hungary) relatively stable. Shifts in foreign capital structure and allocation from private to public sector might pose risks to future growth.
November 8, 2012
Slovenia: Creation of Bad Bank Should Solve Credit Crunch
At the moment, the Slovenian banking sector does not fulfill its main task. The real industry suffers from a credit crunch.
November 6, 2012
Poland: Lending Criteria to Tighten
According to the Polish National Bank (NBP), banks will tighten lending conditions further. NBP wants to support economic growth, but has to prevent a credit bubble.
November 6, 2012
Romania: Joining Eurozone is „Not for Sure”
Romania´s Prime Minister Victor Ponta expressed his concerns about introducing the euro in Romania.
November 5, 2012
Hungary: New Threats for Banks
The Hungarian government plans to take over debts from small municipalities. Banks fear that the Hungarian state demands a debt relief.
November 5, 2012
Austria: Lending Continues to Contract
Austrian banks tend to remain rather cautious. The restrictions of company loans sharpen.
October 31, 2012
Czech Household Debt on the Rise
Against 2011, Czech household debt was up by 4.2%. At the end of September, the level of debt of Czech households to banks reached € 45.8bn.
October 31, 2012
Foreign Banks Withdraw Funds from Croatia
Due to the difficult economic situation in Croatia, foreign banks reduce their exposure in Croatia.
October 24, 2012
Czech Banking Sector to Sharpen Lending Conditions
For corporate and housing loans, lending conditions were tightened in the third quarter of 2012.
October 23, 2012
Bawag: Hungarian Exposure Shrinks
The Austrian bank gradually withdraws from Hungary. The stake in MKB Bank becomes smaller.
October 23, 2012
RBI: We Will Not Leave Hungary
Herbert Stepic, CEO of Austrian RBI (Raiffeisen Bank International) is highly dissatisfied with Hungary´s decision not to reduce bank taxes. However, RBI will stay, he says.
October 18, 2012 · Updated: October 18, 2012; 17:08
Austria Underlines Importance of Austerity Measures
“EU pact for growth and employment to fight high unemployment rates”: State Secretary Reinhold Lopatka at the General Affairs Council in Luxemburg.
October 17, 2012