Loans outnumber savings 2 to 1 in Romania

Romania has twice as many loans as savings accounts, according to GFK studies, a report that has remained unchanged in the last four years. In 2007 – 2008, there were nearly three times more loans than savings, but recession has affected the balance.

At the start of 2009, when interest rates for deposits were very high, more people turned to banking instruments to save money.

“From this point of view, both loans and saving accounts are on a downward trend that started in 2009. However, the total sum of saving accounts grew slightly despite the fact that less people are signing up for savings. Another important factor that affects the trend is the lower interest rates. At the same time, lots of people save money in the short term for specific purposes – say buying an electrical appliance – and then use cash to complete the transactions. In these cases, the earnings from interest rates are insignificant or cancelled out by commissions”, according to Anca Zamfirescu, Senior Research Consultant GfK Romania

Huge differences compared to other European countries

Results regarding loans and savings prove there is a huge disparity between European states. Four countries stand out where saving accounts outnumber loans: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Austria.

In Germany and Austria, savings outnumber loans 3 to 1, while for the other two countries the report is 2 to 1.In all the other states in Europe, the rate of penetration for saving instruments is 22 percent or even less.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are three countries where the number of people that took out loans is much higher than the number of people with saving accounts: Serbia (4.7 to 1), Ukraine (3.3 to 1) and Turkey (3 to 1). Serbia is actually the country with the lowest number of people that save their money in a bank: 2.6 percent.

“Comparing developed countries to less developed countries, we can notice that there are fewer clients bank in the case of the latter. This doesn’t mean that people don’t save money, but they don’t use banks to do it. This represents a market opportunity for players in the banking industry, with a high potential for growth”, according to Rastislav Kocan, GfK CEE Regional Executive.