The economic impact of the banking system in Romania is estimated at 2.247 billion lei in the period 1990-2020, according to the study "The contribution of the banking system to the economy in the last 30 years", carried out by KPMG Advisory at the request of the Romanian Bank Association. The impact of the banking industry on the production of goods and services amounts to 2.087 billion lei, while the impact on the level of remuneration of employees and household consumption is 160 billion lei.
The total direct, indirect and induced impact in the production of goods and services brought by the financial intermediation system, in the period 1990-2020, compared to the GDP recorded by Romania in 2020, was 198%.
The contribution of the financial intermediation sector in Romania can be directly quantified in the form of the share of the sector in GDP. Depending on the year, the financial intermediation sector directly contributed between 2,5% and 3,5% to GDP. For the period 1990-2020, the direct contribution to the production of goods and services was 1.546 billion lei.
The activity of the financial intermediation sector in Romania also leads to an additional effect of 10%, indirectly, on the Romanian economy. This effect comes from the increase in the intermediate or indirect consumption of goods and services on the Romanian market as a result of the financial intermediation activity. The activity of financial intermediation represents a stimulus for the activity of the Romanian economy, in general, through the increase in the consumption of goods and services generated by the lending activity. The total economic impact (direct, indirect and induced) amounts to 1,26 of the value of the income brought as a contribution to GDP by the banking system.
The total value of new loans granted between 2007-2020, according to BNR data, amounted to 1.013 billion lei, representing a share of 96% of GDP in 2020. This value is 3,6 times higher than the balance of non-governmental loans from the year 2020.
From the perspective of the impact on the level of remuneration of employees and household consumption, the financial intermediation sector in Romania supported a number of employees of 2020 at the end of 52.650. As a direct impact, the remuneration of employees of the financial intermediation sector totaled 131 billion lei, in the period 1990-2020.
The indirect impact on the level of remuneration of employees in Romania shows an additional effect of 9% of the total value of remuneration in the sector. The consumption of employees in the sector generates this effect in the form of additional demand for products and services and the creation of jobs in other industries, indirectly. A good part of the remuneration of employees in the financial intermediation sector returns to the economy in the form of household consumption. For Romania in the period 1990-2020, this induced effect leads to a 13% increase in household consumption in Romania.
Apart from the direct, indirect and induced impact in the production of goods and services brought by the financial intermediation system, this sector has contributed to the evolution of Romanian society through social initiatives, carried out through extensive CSR programs, the training of its own employees, of society, as well as by introducing tools and supporting digital initiatives that led to the modernization of society and alignment with European standards, according to the KPMG Advisory study.
