The banks competition will intensify on the small and medium enterprises sector in the light of the approaching accession to the EU, according to the president of the Romanian Banks Association Radu Ghetea. Due to competition on the retail market, the interests and the charges dropped and affected the banks’ venues; however, the banks make good profit all in all, according to Ghetea.

The statements come within the conference "Banking on Romania" organized in Bucharest by the British daily Financial Times and The Banker magazine.

The thousand of SMEs are not prepared for the EU accession and many of them will go bankrupt as they do not qualify for bank loans. Ghetea also foresees that a competition will loom on the Government’s projects financing, in parallel with the SMEs financing, and the banks should be considered a trustworthy partner, especially for the infrastructure projects. Another field that banks will eye is the financing of agriculture.

The retail loans will modify in the immediate future, and the real estate loans will reach 70-80% while the consume loans will drop to 30%, the president of the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) Nicolae Danila said.

Ghetea complains about the Romanian Central Bank’s loans restrictions that limit the activity of the commercial banks.