Insurance companies Generali and Ardaf, controlled by Italian group Generali, will merge, but the brands and the sales networks of the two companies will be kept, announced the shareholder of the two companies. The new company will be called Generali Romania and is set to be one of the top-five local insurers, according to calculations based on aggregate financial results for the entire market in the first half of last year. "The merger will create a stronger and more efficient company and will consolidate the long-term strategic presence of the Generali group in Romania, according to shareholders' plans," said Marie Kovarova, coordinator of the Generali group's operations in Romania. Generali was the third largest insurance company in terms of gross premiums underwritten in the first half of last year, while Ardaf ranked 11th.

BERLIN - The succession of European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will not be a topic at this week's Group of 20 meeting and will be dealt with after March, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday. "We will then see (if there will be a German candidate). The important thing is that we will have a good candidate," Schaeuble added in an interview with German radio channel Deutschlandfunk.BCE,EURO,Dollar,RON,Crisis Agerpres, Mediafax
FRANKFURT - Emergency borrowing from the European Central Bank remained exceptionally elevated for a second straight day on Friday, intensifying speculation that one or more euro zone bank might be facing new funding problems. ECB figures showed banks borrowed more than 16 billion euros in high-cost emergency overnight funding, the highest amount since June 2009 and well above the 1.2 billion euros which banks were taking before the figure first jumped on Thursday. The ECB gives no breakdown of the borrowing figures and declined to comment on Friday when asked for an explanation for the jump. Traders remained unsure whether the spike was due to a serious funding issue or whether a bank had simply made an error earlier in the week by not borrowing enough at the ECB's regular weekly funding handout. If a bank, or number of banks, did not get enough funding, and were unable to make up the difference in open markets, they would be forced to use the ECB's emergency facility until the next ECB tender came around. The next ECB offering is on Tuesday, banks get the money on Wednesday, meaning any change would evident in figures published early on Thursday. "As no bank or banking group from any euro zone country is aggressively seeking money in the interbank market at the moment, it is likely that something went wrong at the main refinancing operation," said one euro zone money market trader. "The bank or banking group needs to tap the ECB for the money whether they like it or not, or they are doing that so as not to appear active on the money market and to thereby be stigmatized," he added

European bank shares were down 1 percent by 1100 GMT while the euro fell against the dollar and other major currencies for much of the morning. Money markets showed little reaction, however. Key euro bank-to-bank lending prices remained on a downward trajectory, a direction traditionally at odds with rising tensions. The theory that the spike was due to human error appeared to be supported by data from the ECB's latest weekly funding operation. Banks borrowed the lowest amount since June at the tender, 19 billion euros less than the previous week and well below expected demand of around 160 billion euros.

However, a monetary source in Italy, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the increase in borrowing was not a technical problem and was a sign that money markets were still not functioning correctly and geographically split in the wake of the global financial crisis. The source said the Italian banking system continued to have good access to money markets, while high-level Spanish financial source said the jump was not down to Spanish banks. The borrowing jump added extra complexity to the question of whether the ECB will scale back, or extend, its money market support measures at its next meeting on March 3.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said in a recent interview that the health of money markets had improved, although Belgium's Guy Quaden said this week liquidity support remained necessary. "If the increased use of the marginal borrowing facility is due to new problems in the banking system this would call for an extension of the ECB's liquidity support," said UniCredit analyst Luca Cazzulani. "The ECB knows exactly who is borrowing the money and why they are doing it. If it is due to a mistake then it should not influence their thinking at all." The extra 0.75 percent which banks have to pay for overnight funding from the ECB normally means it is used only as a last resort. The last time before this week that overnight borrowing exceeded 10 billion euros was on June 24, 2009, when it was 28.7 billion euros, the highest ever. This year, emergency overnight borrowing has been above 1 billion euros only twice. Traders said while mistyping the required amount or missing the ECB's tender altogether would be an unlikely mistake, it could happen. "It would be a huge oversight and pretty unlikely but it is possible if a lot of things conspired against you," said one London-based money market trader. "If it is a mistake then someone's boss is not going to be very happy." A number of banks, mainly from the euro zone's most debt-strained countries but also troubled banks in core countries, remain barred from open money markets and almost completely dependent on the ECB for funding.

As of December 31st 2010 Romanian banks assets amounted to 342 billion lei (80 billion euros), with BCR and BRD vying for the top position, just as 10 years ago, and being followed by a whole range of banks whose assets were cut in half. Last year, BCR managed to gain market share, after four years of decline, while BRD lost ground because it adopted an extremely cautious policy, no longer willing to take risks in an economy affected by recession. This policy imposed by the risk-averse new management, has borne fruit as far as non-performing loans are concerned, but has also entailed losing clients with big businesses. BCR, on the other hand, has been very aggressive on the corporate segment in over the last year, taking customers from other banks by being more risk-friendly.
In terms of profit, however, BRD fares significantly better than BCR, reporting 501 million lei in income, which means its assets fetch more profit despite being smaller.
Raiffeisen climbed to the third position, replacing Volksbank, which lost significant ground, falling to the eighth position. Breathing down Raiffeisen's neck is CEC, the state-held bank that has been steadily gaining market share over the course of last year. Next in the top ten ranking are Banca Transilvania, Alpha Bank and UniCredit, with Bancpost and ING on the bottom two positions. The top-ten banks in the system account for 78% of its assets, proving how concentrated the Romanian market is. The entire banking system posted a 304 million-lei loss last year, compared with a record-high profit of 4.4 billion lei in the 2008 peak year.

Romania's Gross Domestic Product fell by 1.2% last year, less than analysts' and authorities' forecasts, which hovered around 2%.
The Romanian economy rose by 0.1% in the last three months of 2010 against the preceding quarter, contrary to most analysts' expectations of a decline. Analysts, however, say that the figure was very close to zero and could be later revised, with the "plus" or "minus" sign being less relevant. "This positive figure can be explained by revisions of past data. The -1.2% decline can only be explained if historical series were revised. There could be major revisions both for 2010 and for 2009. One cannot rule out the possibility that the minus of the first quarter has been turned into a plus. If 2009 data have not been revised, one could only come up with 1.2% if first-quarter economic growth were positive," commented Nicolaie Chideşciuc, chief-economist of ING Bank. He says considering that the 2010 economic decline was lower than expected, there is a big chance this year's economic growth could exceed 0.2%. The austerity measures adopted by the authorities, the VAT hike and the 25% public sector wages cut, were reflected in the GDP dynamics. After the economy's feeble return to positive territory in the second quarter, the seasonally-adjusted GDP dipped back into negative territory in the third quarter. The GDP fell 2.5% in the third quarter against the corresponding period of 2009, after a decline of just 0.5% in April-June of 2010 (z.f.)

Romania's public debt continued to rise last year at a fast pace of 31.6%, amid massive state borrowing, and reached 194 billion RON (46 billion euros), accounting for 38% of GDP.

"The growth rate of the public debt is significant. And its level has neared 40% of GDP. The situation is made worse by the fact that the debt structure has a big short-term component, which is more volatile. A problem we will have to solve is modification of the debt structure by extending loan deadlines," comments Aurelian Dochia. Can Romania function without further boosting its public debt? "The public debt is expected to stabilise. Now it is not small at all. We are nearing the maximum bearable limit. The important thing is to think why we are taking this debt on. If we boost the debt to finance wage and pension spending, the markets can become nervous. If we build motorways, it is not a tragedy," believes Ionuţ Dumitru, chief economist of Raiffeisen Bank. The Finance Ministry has managed to slightly reduce the budget deficit last year, but the fast rate of growth of the public debt and the weak prospects of economic growth remain the main vulnerabilities.(Z.F.)

Bucharest is in the middle of a ranking of Eastern European cities based on the area of vacant offices, with Budapest, for instance, having nearly twice as many empty buildings, according to ZF calculations, based on data supplied by real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.
Vienna and Prague also have more empty offices than Bucharest, while Warsaw has withstood the crisis better, with a lower stock of unoccupied offices than Bucharest.
Of the 2 million square metres of offices in Bucharest, around 340,000 square metres are unoccupied, with the vacancy rate seeing a major rise over the last two years, from 6.2% to 17%.
Consultants are hoping to see the vacancy rate down towards 14-15% this year, but for now around 80% of the spaces scheduled for completion this year have no tenants. (Z.F)

The European Commission wants to include mutual fund investors in compensation schemes, proposing damages of as much as 50,000 euros for each client that suffers losses. However, European states are against such a move, under the pressure of fund managers and banks, fearing that such a scheme for funds would generate high costs. Romanian mutual funds have over 220,000 investors, with 100,000 having entered in the past two years, placing their money particularly in currency funds, which have been promoted by banks bundled with deposits. Bourse investors, 86,000 overall, are protected by the Compensation Fund in case the broker with which they opened the trading account failed, while banks' clients have over 15 million deposits and current accounts guaranteed within the limit of 100,000 euros. The gap is the wider as mutual funds address small, retail investors, and in Western countries they are as popular as investments on the Bourse. Domestic market official sources maintain such a protection move "is not justified as the Romanian capital market legislation guarantees mutual funds' assets are kept separately from banking deposits and are not part of the list of liabilities in case of bankruptcy". (Z.F.)

Financial-Banking Analysis

For the new democracies and market economies of the Eastern European region, 2009 has been a rude awakening, the biggest shock since they switched from Soviet communism to western capitalism 20 years ago. "There is no doubt the region is in deep crisis," said the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development last week. "The worst output collapse since the great recession that followed the end of communism."

Most analysts expect the National Bank of Romania to come with a less optimistic forecast as far as this year's price increase is concerned, after last autumn it expected inflation to slow down to 3.4% in December 2011, i.e. close to the official target of 3%. According to an internal survey conducted by the Association of Financial-Banking Analysts, the average analyst forecast for the 2011 inflation is 4.3%, i.e. also above the upper inflation target limit.
The main risks now have to do with the international trend of making food and fuels more expensive, which has already been felt on the Romanian market. Last year consumer prices climbed nearly 8%, although the official inflation target was 3.5%. The shock of the VAT hike from 19% to 24% in the summer, as well as the food price increases that occurred in autumn overturned the downward trend of inflation.

The sheer frequency of legislative modifications in Romania, which exasperates both citizens and the business world, does not only stem from the need to change legislation after the revolution of 1989, but also from the ease with which the governments that succeeded each other during the last 20 years adopted emergency ordinances. The champion of emergency ordinances is the Cabinet of former prime minister Mugur Isărescu, who, in a single year (2000) issued 297 emergency ordinances, while in the same year Parliament adopted 683 laws, which means a total of 980 pieces of legislation. The database of the Legislative Council offers a complete picture of what happened in the legislative field over twenty years. In Romania, there are currently a huge number of pieces of legislation in force, individual and international, 95,618 on January 28, 2011, of which only 1,958 were issued before 1989. Each law needs to be abided by because one cannot cite ignorance of the existence of that piece of legislation as an excuse. The rate of legislative modifications explains the bewilderment of common people, as well as of companies and accountants, when such legislative modifications occur, and explains why lawyers and legal consultants are so successful. (Autor: Iulian Anghel Z.F.)

The complete destabilisation of the Arab world by the imminent fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt will reset the strategies of world leaders. We could witness policies of stockpiling and rationing fuels and basic products, believes professor Daniel Dăianu. The imminent fall of the Mubarak regime under pressure from the hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets for the sixth day in a row will change the balance of power in international politics. Economically speaking, the prices of oil and food, already under pressure, are the most affected by the Middle East instability.
The political change in Egypt, which has now reached a population of 80 million, is a "Lehman Brothers" of the Arab world, says professor Daniel Dăianu.
"This is a very difficult situation, a Lehman Brothers of the Arab world, it is a much too hot potato for everybody. It is an event with a major political impact, the most important one since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it could mark this decade," says economist Daniel Dăianu. The collapse of American bank Lehman Brothers is the biggest bankruptcy in the history of the United States and the trigger of the international economic crisis.
Daniel Dăianu believes the political unrest in Northern Africa and the Middle East comes at a time when all countries have had to make spending cuts as a result of the world economic crisis, with the very viability of the welfare state being questioned. (Z.F.)

Energy prices rose Monday on fears that turmoil in Egypt could spread elsewhere in the Middle East and pinch oil supplies. Gold prices, which usually rise amid volatility, fell unexpectedly. Egypt is only a minor oil producer, but it controls the Suez Canal and an adjacent pipeline the ship a combined two million barrels of oil every day. The Suez remains open and shipping has not been interrupted. Traders worry instability could affect those supplies. The decline in gold prices mystified some traders who expected it to maintain last week's rally. Investors often buy gold and silver as a hedge against unpredictability in the markets during times of uncertainty. But Monday, they sold off metals futures. "It is about as clear a direction as the outcome of the social wildfire raging over in Egypt," Kitco Metals Inc. Senior Analyst Jon Nadler said in a note to clients.One reason for the flight from metals could be the improving U.S. stock market, Nadler wrote, which has lured some investors back into equities rather than safe havens like gold. Gold for April delivery lost $7.20 to settle at $1,334.50 an ounce while silver for march delivery rose 25 cents to settle at $28169 an ounce.http://www.intactnews.ro/ April platinum fell $4.10 to $1,800.90 an ounce. Copper for March delivery rose 8.55 cents to settle at $4.4585 a pound, March palladium gained $3.10 to $820.10 an ounce. While metals were mixed, energy prices rose.

Health insurance costs - Romania

Those who want to have the comfort of knowing the health insurance covers annual investigations or even treatment in foreign clinics, must take out at least several hundred euros annually of their pockets, but the price of such a policy can go up to as much as several thousand euros. Expats and large corporations' managers are the main clients of "luxury" health insurance, and the number of policies sold annually can reach several hundreds. However, these clients benefit from the best conditions, and insurers do not think twice before paying the bills for some complicated procedures, regardless of where they were performed.
"The number of policies covering treatment abroad rose visibly last year, but the market has not reached maturity, yet. We can see demand increasing for these products owing to the frequent cases of malpraxis in Romania or of hospitals lacking medical products," comments Cristian Fugaciu, general manager of Marsh insurance broker.
The price of insurance on the basis of which a client has access to treatment abroad starts from 700 euros per year and can reach 2,000-3,000 euros per year on average in the case of complex products. There are however policies without restrictions for insured sums or treatment location that can top 8,000 euros per year.BCE, Citigroup, Comisia Europeana, FMI, Federal Reserve, Germania, Grecia, Irlanda, Marea Britanie, PIB, Rusia, SUA, Spania, Standard and Poor's, Ungaria, Uniunea Europeana, economie, obligatiuni, zona euro

Of the 4.57 billion euros that the European Union allocated to Romania between 2007 and 2013 for infrastructure, the Transportation Ministry had attracted as little as 47 million euros until December 2010 - i.e. 1% of the amount. This is the lowest percentage of EU funds attracted out of all the chapters, although this was the sector that needed investments the most. So, an activity that is expected to drive Romania out of recession, such as infrastructure works (which would not only create jobs, but also a new dynamic for connected businesses - cement, asphalt, concrete), and, once the infrastructure was modernised, it would help goods transport companies and tourism, is all but frozen.
Who is to blame and who will pay for this?
The situation could see allocations change because the EU is preparing to reallocate amounts for the 2007-2013 period, with some of the unspent money potentially to be redistributed to other countries. The same people have been at the helm of the Transportation Ministry for years - Radu Berceanu (PDL, transportation minister twice in 2006-2007 and 2009-2010), Gheorghe Dobre (PDL, transportation minister between 2004 and 2006, currently secretary general of the Transport Ministry), Ludovic Orban (PNL, minister between 2007 and 2008), Anca Boagiu (PDL, currently transport minister, who also held this position in 2000, when she succeeded Traian Băsescu), and the results are showing today: the infrastructure is extremely poor, and the "free" money for building roads and motorways is stuck because of the Ministry's inaction. ( Z.F.)

Denmark's Vestas, the world's leader in the field of wind farm technology, with turnover worth above 6bn euros in 2009, decided to open an office in Romania this year considering the company has already sold turbines with a 450 MW capacity for investments in Dobrogea. After six years' research, Vestas now says it is time it started developing domestically.
"We have been eyeing Romania over the past five or six years, but it is now that we decided to open a local office. This is a decision that proves the domestic market has reached a certain maturity. We are in the right place at the right moment. Romania is the most promising country in Eastern Europe," says Hans Jorn Rieks, chairman for Central Europe with Vestas.
The best-known wind farms due to be equipped by Vestas are the ones being built by Energias de Portugal in two towns of Dobrogea, Pe[tera and Cernavod`.
According to Rieks, the big concern as regards the Romanian market is legislation. "The existence of clear legislation will open the market to several players as banks are always looking at something tangible and are not willing to take on risks," he says. (Z.F)

BRUSSELS, Jan. 27 - The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the rescue fund set up by Eurozone countries last May, Tuesday saw strong demand for its debut bond issued to raise cash for Ireland. Demand for the five-year bond was reportedly nearly nine times of the 5 billion euros (6.8 billion U.S. dollars) on offer, which is seen as a sign of confidence in the facility. Klaus Regling, chief executive of the EFSF, said that the strong demand "confirms confidence in the strategy adopted to restore financial stability in the euro area." The 440-billion-euro (580-billion-U.S. dollar) EFSF is not offered directly by eurozone countries, but guaranteed by them to borrow money by issuing bonds on the market for debt-laden eurozone members. According to the aid package endorsed by European Union (EU) finance ministers last November to Ireland, the EFSF, will raise 17.7 billion euros in total for Dublin.

Earlier this month, the European Commission also raised 5 billion euros for Ireland through its first bond issuance under the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism (EFSM), which is guaranteed by the EU's budget. Markets snapped up the bond within one hour.

Romanian tax authority ANAF will refund in January value added tax to companies worth 1.36 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2621), the highest sum returned so far in a single month, the authority said Wednesday.

Romania To Pay VAT Refunds Worth RON1.36B In January

Of the total refunds, ANAF has already paid Monday RON557 million, and will pay the rest of the sum by the end of the month. Some RON1.21 billion of the total refunds represents compensations.

Recently, Grzegorz Konieczny, general manager of Franklin Templeton and portfolio manager of FP (Fondul Proprietatea), was quoted as saying by Reuters that the Government had to sell holdings in order to pay back the IMF programme. He said Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund) expected the Government could raise nearly 1.5 euros selling shares in state-owned companies in the next couple of years. Agerpres,Mediafax,
So far, the authorities have only paid interest on the nearly 20 billion-euro record-high loan sealed with the IMF, the European Commission and the World Bank nearly two years ago.
The first principal payment will be made on August 6th 2012 and will amount to 546 million special drawing rights (SDR), i.e. over 600 million euros at the current SDR value.
"The repayment of the loan is done in instalments. There is no major pressure involved. Under no circumstances is the Government unable to repay the loan unless it sells holdings in state-held companies. The sale is a solution that can be considered. The Government's intention to sell stakes on the stock exchange has been previously announced. It is not unexpected. But I don't think the Government is forced to do this amid pressure to repay the loan," said analyst Aurelian Dochia.
On another note, as part of the new precautionary arrangement with the IMF, the state-run companies will be much better monitored, considering the high level of arrears, and the Fund believes the resources derived from privatising viable companies could provide cheaper financing of the budget deficit, sources close to the negotiations say.
On the other hand, while the arrangement with the IMF will continue in some form or another, the continuation of the agreement with foreign banks on maintaining exposure to Romania is not ironclad, and may be dropped, as parent banks maintain exposure voluntarily, sources close to the talks say. (Z.F.)

The outgoing head of the CBI today strongly criticised the government's lack of strategy for economic growth and warned that ministers would fail to reduce Britain's budget deficit without measures to boost demand. Sir Richard Lambert used his last big speech as director general of the employers' organisation to accuse the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of taking policy initiatives for political reasons "apparently careless of the damage that they might do to business and to job creation". Speaking on the eve of the release of official growth figures expected to show a slowdown in the pace of economic expansion in the final three months of 2010, Lambert backed plans to cut the deficit but said they had to be accompanied by increased output and employment, which would increase tax receipts. "The sooner we can get output back up to the levels that were expected before the recession, the quicker government revenues will rise to narrow the fiscal gap. "It's not enough just to slam on the spending brakes. Measures that cut spending but killed demand would actually make matters worse." Lambert said the government had been single-minded, even ruthless, in the pursuit of spending cuts but had not been "nearly so consistent" when it came to policies that supported growth. "It's failed so far to articulate in big picture terms its vision of what the UK economy might become under its stewardship."

Lloyds Banking Group has begun a mass mailshot of 231,000 letters offering possible refunds to Halifax customers who may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance on their credit cards, under a costly and large-scale outreach programme codenamed Project Kestrel. Internal documents obtained by the Observer reveal that 8,300 letters went out last Monday. Almost a quarter of a million will be dispatched by mid-February, asking credit card customers to contact a special call centre operated by outsourcing firm Capita. The exercise by Lloyds, which is 70% owned by the government and is the parent of Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB, comes amid an ongoing furore over the mis-marketing of so-called PPI policies which protect cardholders against debts if they lose their jobs, fall ill or have accidents. Analysts believe Lloyds could face a bill of more than £1bn for compensation if it were found to have mis-sold PPI.

euro, criza datoriilor de stat, euroscepticismul, monede nationale, renuntarea la euro, salvare euro, zona euro

The euro edged higher against the dollar on Tuesday as the arrest of a slide in Chinese shares boosted risk appetite, but its gains were limited by uncertainty over whether officials will agree to beef up a euro zone safety fund this week. The euro dipped initially but later pared its losses against the dollar as Chinese shares showed signs of stabilising after the previous day's 3 percent slide, lending some support to risky assets.
The euro's rise against the dollar picked up some steam on stop-loss buying, helping push the single European currency 0.1 percent higher on the day to $1.3305, up from an intraday low of $1.3254. But doubts that euro zone policymakers would reach a quick decision on whether to enhance a rescue fund aimed at quelling a sovereign debt crisis, which has forced Greece and Ireland to take bailouts and put nations such as Portugal and Spain under heavy pressure, remained the euro's Achilles' heel.