WARSAW, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The growing woes in the financial
sector have sparked fears in central and eastern Europe that the
foreign lenders that control a majority of the region's banks
could seek to tap their subisidiaries for emergency cash.
Even as worries of immediate transfers have subsided as
several governments stepped in to take stakes in some of their
troubled banks, east European regulators say they are monitoring
the situation closely.
Following is a list of the region's main financial markets,
and measures to avoid capital draining from the banking sector.
POLAND
About 70 percent of banking assets are controlled by foreign
players, led by UniCredit <CRDI.MI>, ING Groep <ING.AS> and
Commerzbank <CBKG.DE>.
Polish law limits exposure to a parent bank at 20 percent of
equity and forbids transfers of more than 25 percent of equity
to foreign entities.
The financial regulator KNF has introduced a mandatory
requirements for banks to report daily on any exposure to
foreign entities and warned them against transactions that would
indicate unjustified capital transfers to their owners.
The regulator may also issue a negative opinion for the bank
seeking aid from the central bank if it has attempted to
transfer capital to its owner.
"If a parent company decided to take such a step (transfer
capital from a Polish unit) and this would worsen the situation
of the Polish unit, we could file criminal charges against the
management of the Polish institution for acting against the
interes of the institution," said KNF's chief Stanislaw Kluza.
HUNGARY
About 82 percent of banking assets are controlled by foreign
lenders, led by KBC <KBC.BR>, Bayerische Landesbank <BLGGgg.F>
amd Intesa SanPaolo <ISP.MI>.
Exposure to a parent company, affiliate or other subsidiary
of the parent company is limited at 20 percent of the bank's
capital, but that rule does not apply for banks under so-called
"consolidated supervision".
There is no reporting requirement for transfers but banks
report daily to the supervising body on their liquidity,
including details on the position of its owners. The Hungarian
rules are in line with EU directives and there are no plans to
change them.
CZECH REPUBLIC
About 97 percent of banking assets are controlled by foreign
players, led by KBC, Erste Group <ERST.VI> and Societe Generale
<SOGN.PA>. Erste said on Thursday it would take a 2.7 billion
euros capital boost from the Austrian government [].
Czech law limits exposure to a parent bank at 20 percent of
equity, which corresponds to 2 percent of overall deposits. The
Czech central bank said in October the exposure of most Czech
banks is around a half of the 20 percent limit.
ROMANIA
About 89 percent of banking assets are controlled by foreign
players, led by Erste, Societe Generale and Raiffeisen.
Exposure of institutions registered in Romania and Romanian
branches of non-resident banks to parent companies cannot exceed
20 percent of its local bank's own funds.
Banks are required to file reports on high exposure, subject
to the 20 percent limit, in line with a 2008 central bank
ordinance.
BULGARIA
About 78 percent of banking assets are in foreign hands.
Main banks are UniCredit, OTP <OTPB.BU> and National Bank of
Greece.
Local units can extend loans to their foreign owners to the
equivalent of 20 percent of their capital.
(Compiled by Chris Borowski; Reporting by Piotr Skolimowski
and Filip Kochan in Warsaw, Sandor Peto in Budapest, Jana
Mlcochova in Prague, Marius Zaharia in Bucharest and Anna Mudeva
in Sofia)
