Access Investments-European Union- ROMANIA

Almost 13,000 Romanians hold 4bn euros' worth of deposits - Each of them with at least 300,000 euros on average in at least one bank, these are the clients bankers, as well as luxury industry companies, are fighting for.Less than 12,700 Romanians keep almost four billion euros in deposits of above 100,000 euros in banks, thus concentrating almost one fifth of the population's overall savings, show the data of the Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGDB). At the same time, 14.8 million depositors with smaller savings hold overall placements with banks of less than 17bn euros. "This can be viewed as quite a wide gap", says Radu Crăciun, an investment manager with Eureko Pensii. The data reflect only savings held with domestic banks, but Romanians with significant cash sums are also hunted by foreign banks. Big names in the international wealth management business like UBS, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lloyds are looking for customers in Bucharest. There is no clear data about the fortunes Romanians hold abroad, with some indicating sums of between 12 and 15bn euros, though there are also much higher estimates: up to 60bn euros, with sums of 3bn euros being sent abroad every year. The population held savings with domestic banks worth almost 104bn lei (24bn euros) at the end of 2010, in line with NBR data. Starting last December, FGDB guarantees population's deposits up to 100,000 euros, with the cap having been doubled from the previous year. Fund data show that, on average, Romanians with deposits above the guarantee cap hold placements of 1.3m lei (over 300,000 euros) with each bank. Instead, clients with deposits lower than 50,000 euros have savings of just 6,600 lei on average. (source Autor: Liviu Chiru Z.F.)