BCR, the leader of the banking system, operated an increase in the interests paid on RON deposits from its clients by 3.75%, which came as a shock to the market.
After this leap, the interest rates BCR pays range from 8% to 10.5% a year, depending on the type of deposit and the amount saved. The bank previously offered 6%-7 % annual interests, rates that were on the downside of the market.
Most banks in the system have adjusted their interest rates several times since the beginning of the year, given the tightening of the NBR monetary policy. BCR, however, postponed such a move. Some smaller players are paying as much as 11% a year for standard deposits in RON, in order to raise cash from clients while others have chosen to offer attractive rewards as part of campaigns that promote their savings products.
"By having raised the interest we pay, all clients that have time deposits in RON with BCR will have their savings protected against the inflation risk," says Sorin Mititelu, chief executive of the Business and Retail Product Development at BCR. The bank pays 10% interest only for deposits in excess of 5,000 and even 10,000 RON (depending on the period they are intended for), while smaller deposits see 8 to 9% a year interest.
For a one thousand RON deposit made for one year that pays a fixed 9% interest rate, the client gains 75 RON at present (taking into account tax). This is an almost 30% increase on the 58 RON offered under the old terms, when interest stood at 7% a year.
BCR does not reveal the breakdown of its deposits from clients by currency, only the total volume, which reached 31.6 billion RON (8.47 billion euros) in March.
If half of the total deposits were kept in RON, an increase in interest of merely two percent would generate an increase in the interests paid in a year by about 100 million euros.
Annual inflation sped up throughout almost the entire half of 2007 and in the first few months of this year, but stabilised at 8.6% in March and April.
The inflationary outburst fuelled by the increase in the price of food and fuels has caused the NBR to raise the key rate for RON six times since last autumn, taking it from 7% to 9.75% a year.
BCR representatives say that interests on RON loans remain unchanged, at least for the moment. The bank charges 12.25% to 14.75% a year for its loans in RON regardless of whether they are used for real estate investments or are just consumer loans. Costs vary with the repayment period and how the interest is calculated.
This move enables BCR to offer higher interests on deposits than BRD-SocGen, Raiffeisen, CEC and UniCredit Tiriac.
Out of the top banks, the French at BRD continue to offer the lowest interest rates for RON deposits, 6%-7% a year.
Raiffeisen has adjusted its policy so that it now pays up to 9% interest for large one-year deposits worth over 40,000 RON.
Interests for lower amounts range from 5% to 7%. Both CEC and UniCredit Tiriac offer 7%-8% for the RON raised from customers.
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