The cutting season for RON loan interest rates continues, at least until the banks get to complete the capital increases and transfers of foreign loans abroad that will allow them to resume granting loans in foreign currency.
Raiffeisen Bank is the first large bank on the retail market that decided to cut up to four percentage points from its interests on RON loans, which had stayed significantly higher than those offered by competitors. At the same time, the bank cut the rates on deposits by up to 1.75 percent, to 4.5% for one month and 5.2% for one year, without a fixed interest rate. The rate for the fixed interest rate account is 3.5% for year for less than 4,000 RON and 4.5% for more than 4,000 RON.
The top two players, BCR and BRD have yet to announce rate cuts, but both are about to reduce the interests they pay on deposits by about one percent.
Raiffeisen''s interest rate for housing loans in RON is going down from 15% to 13.5% a year, and the interest rate on car loans is going down from 19% to 15% a year. FlexiCredit rates are also decreasing to 17.5%, while the overdraft carries 22% interest rate per year.
Two other major players on the retail market, Bancpost and Banca Tiriac, have operated significant interest rate cuts for their RON credits and deposits, thus continuing the trend started by some smaller banks.
Banca Tiriac announced the reduction of the rates on the domestic currency-denominated loans to even lower levels than the rates on foreign currency, after having previously pushed the interest rates paid on RON deposits to 3.5%-5% a year.
The bank also introduced a housing credit in RON, which comes with 9.3% interest rate a year that stays fixed for the first three years, lower than the rate for euros.
Bancpost launched a real estate loan in RON at 8.9% a year if fixed in the first year. The loan can also be taken for 9.5% a year, if the interest rate stays fixed in the first five years or for 14% a year if the interest rate is variable. The bank also cut the rates on consumer loans to around 13% a year. At the same time, Bancpost lowered the interest rates on the deposits in RON by two percentage points on the average. Therefore, passive rates on RON range from 4.5-5.5% a year for individual customers and 3.5% - 4.5% for corporate clients.
The monthly growth pace of RON lending in the last two summer months, July and August, managed to outrun the foreign currency lending''s. According to the statistics of the central bank, lending in foreign currency had showed signs of a visible slowdown since July, before the restriction applicable as of September 26 enforced. This restriction caps the volume of foreign currency loans to no more than three times the own funds of a specific bank.
ING Bank yesterday announced it had reduced the interest rates on housing loans in RON by half a percentage point, to 9.25% a year (fixed for the first two years). This is the second cut the bank has operated within one month. The bank was charging 13% interest on the Optim version of the mortgage loan, which came with a fixed interest for the first five years. ING last week cut the rates on deposits in domestic currency, paying even less to individual depositors in some cases than for foreign currency deposits.
The bank offers 2-3% for RON deposits, but kept the rate on the sight deposits with a balance of 700 to 499,999 RON higher, 6.75%.
Banca Romaneasca in its turn has announced cuts of its interests on RON, as well as other modifications of the lending conditions. razvan.voican@zf.ro
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