Romania’s NPL market to be impacted by taxation changes and GDPR in 2018, says Deloitte

Experts at Deloitte, the professional services firm, predict that the market for non-performing loans (NPLs) will be impacted this year by the changes in taxation and the roll out of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Deloitte data shows that the volume of NPLs in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Ukraine and Bosnia & Herzegovina, stood at EUR 61 billion at the end of 2016. In the previous year, the volume stood at EUR 51 billion.

“Activity of NPL markets continued at an increased pace in Central and Eastern Europe. An already mature market in CEE region, Romania has continued to be one the leaders of NPL transactions during both 2016 and 2017. This is mainly the result of the fact that NPL disposals processes started way ahead of other countries in CEE,” said Radu Dumitrescu, head of Transaction Services in Deloitte Romania.

Dumitrescu added that low levels of transactions will be recorded in the first part of the year, but the market is set to pick up next year.

“Another aspect to watch for in the forthcoming years in Romania is definitely the development of the secondary NPL market and “large cases” transactions,” said the representatives of Deloitte Romania.