Moldovan experts say banking transparency evolve in recent months

Chisinau, 4 August /MOLDPRES/ – The level of transparency of shareholders of Moldovan banks evolved after the launch of the first ranking in February, according to the rating of transparency and quality of commercial banks' shareholders published by the Independent Analytical Center "Expert-Grup" on 4 August.  

Four out of the eleven analyzed banks showed a "very high transparency, and as for the great majority of the shareholders, there is a large volume of public information about confirming their quality and value for the bank", according to ranking situation from 31 July.

The banks with highest transparency, according to experts, are: Mobiasbanca – Groupe Societe Generale, ProCredit Bank, BCR (Romanian Commercial Bank) Chisinau and Eximbank – Gruppo Veneto Banca, the only financial institutions with majority foreign capital, founded by parent banks or financial groups from EU.

Another three banks, Moldova Agroindbank, FinComBank and Comertbank prove a "high level of transparency, there is a significant amount of information about most shareholders of the bank." This category included only a single bank in last February.

"The commercial banks were quite responsive to our calls for editing information on shareholders, so that the score of many of them has been improved. If this trend continues, I think that, in the next 2-3 Rating editions, most banks will be graded with 4 or 5 stars in our rankings," a program manager at Expert-Grup and one of the authors of the rating, Natan Garstea said. 

The most serious problems are recorded at EuroCreditBank, while the other three banks: Moldindconbank, Victoriabank and EnergBank have a medium level of transparency.

The expert Natan Garstea notes, that the presented rating does not show commercial banks’ solvency and financial stability, but refers only to the composition of the bank shares' end beneficiaries, analyzed in the light of two indicators of perception: transparency and financial strength.

The lowest rating, of one star, was not claimed by any of the banks. The one-star rating implies a very low level of transparency, where the majority of shares are held by persons about whom there is no available information or who enter risk categories.

At the same time, the Expert-Grup reviewed the main actions to reform the financial and banking sector during April-July 2016 and found out that more stabilization measures were undertaken. Nevertheless, experts warn that there are shortcomings in terms of transparency and suitability of shareholders, development of the National Bank's (BNM) intervention tools, arduous investigation on fraud in the banking system and the return of the embezzled bad loans.

The IMF mission, on a visit to Chisinau on 5 – 15 July, stated that the new program with Moldova aims including "addressing long-term vulnerabilities infiltrated in the non-transparent structure of the banks’ shareholders long ago."

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor A. Raileanu)