According to a study by KPMG, entitled Banking Executive Survey 2012, which examined the economic development of the banking sector in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania, the Czech Republic is the only country among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in which top executives of banks evaluate the year 2012 neutrally or positively. According to all others the economic situation in the banking market has worsened in 2012. Only 29 percent of respondents expect that the situation in the banking market is going to improve in 2013.
The study showed that the most pessimistic bankers are those from the Slovakia and Hungary. "79 percent of Slovak and 83 percent of Hungarian bankers consider the situation in 2012 to be worse compared with the previous year. These attitudes reflect the overall economic situation of the countries concerned. Hungarian banking sector was probably hit the most by the crisis out of all monitored countries. On the other hand, Slovakia has been facing the growth of indebtedness and substantial regional imbalances. In spite of that, Slovak banks did relatively well in many parameters in 2011 and even created the highest profit in its history, "said KPMG in its the press release with the results of the study.
In 2012 banks reported lower earnings than in 2011. In 2013, 44 percent respondents expect worsening of earnings. 39 percent of respondents expect worsening of the profitability in the next year, mainly in Poland and the Slovak Republic. The greatest optimism prevails in Romania. According to the respondents a significant strengthening of the trust of companies and investors (25%), effective regulation (24%) and monetary policy (17%) are major factors to improve the financial performance in the banking sector. In the next 5 years, especially the increased regulatory requirements, new simple banking products and product optimization will play the vital role in the development of the banking market in Central and Eastern Europe
The entire study is available for download at KPMG here: Banking Executive Survey 2012 .
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