Acting President Bolojan meets banking associations' representatives

Acting President Ilie Bolojan welcomed on Wednesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace a delegation of the Romanian banking associations consisting of members of the Romanian Banking Employers' Council (CPBR) and the Romanian Banking Association (ARB).The meeting took place as the acting president expressed openness for engaging in a constructive dialogue with the business milieu, aimed at improving the financial-banking climate in Romania, the Presidential Administration said."The discussions focused on ways to support cooperation between the state, the banking sector, the business milieu and the citizens. Among the topics approached were the need for a courageous approach on the part of banks, by facilitating lending for investments, but also by creating a system that supports the absorption of European funds through banking services intended for enterprises or local public governments that implement projects financed from non-reimbursable European funds," the cited source said.The meeting also looked at other topics of relevance to the banking sector, considering the diversification of service portfolios and supporting economic growth.President Ilie Bolojan stressed the importance of banks taking up an active role as partners of the state for the country's economic development, expressing his support for the messages conveyed by the representatives of the two umbrella bodies of Romania's financial-banking sector.The representatives of the banking associative environment expressed their willingness to collaborate to identify solutions that benefit both the citizens and the Romanian economy."As a banking system, we are here to give out loans, we are here to grow our country's economy, we are here to contribute to the growth of prosperity. This is something that we all need to understand. We have assimilated this role and would be very happy if together we could set in place the premises, for example, for growing financial intermediation as it is defined in theory, specifically loans referenced to GDP, as Romania has one of the lowest intermediation rates in Europe. I must also say that although the European trend is for a decrease in the so-called financial intermediation, we are still at a very, very low level, but our task is to loan the economy, to lend to the population," said the president of the Romanian Banking Employers' Council Sergiu Manea.  (Photo:https://www.presidency.ro/)