IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Kruk, a firm specialized in debt recovery in Central and Eastern Europe, have acquired a portfolio of bad loans from Bancpost and other subsidiaries of the Eurobank Group in Romania, with a total outstanding balance of EUR 597 million, to help accelerate the settlement of non-performing loans and to increase the liquidity of the banking sector in Romania and the region, the IFC informs in a release, quoted by capital.ro.
“The large number of bad loans in Romania and in the region is a serious problem since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. IFC and Kruk pledged to invest in a portfolio of unsecured non-performing loans granted to individuals by Bancpost and other subsidiaries of Eurobank Group in Romania, with a total outstanding balance of approximately EUR 597 million,” the release reads.
“The active management of the non-performing loans stock is our strategic priority. In this regard, we explored and we are involved in several initiatives to minimize the risks aimed at better strengthening our consolidated balance, as well as the consolidated balance sheet of our affiliated banks and their increase in profitability,” said Stavros Ioannou, Deputy general manager of Eurobank.
The transaction is part of the IFC programme for Debt and Assets recovery (PRDA), which is a strategic response to the growing number of non-performing loans.