IIB announced it redeemed its RON 500 mln (EUR 100 mln) bonds with a coupon of 3.98% when they matured on November 1.

This bond, issued in 2019 and listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, was the largest in volume among the five such issues on the Romanian market.

“Since the Bank’s relocation to Europe, Romania became one of the largest beneficiaries among IIB member states in asset allocation. Amidst the unprecedented global economic and market conditions, our institution is further managing its liquidity safely, meeting its obligations in a timely manner and in full,” commented Imre Laszlóczki, Deputy Chairperson of the IIB Management Board.

Apart from the above five bond issues, IIB placed five more series in the RON denomination under its MTN Programme, showing high recognition of the Bank among Romanian institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies.

About half of the RON 500 mln bond issue paid back by IIB on November 1, more precisely RON 216 mln (EUR 40 mln), was invested by three private pension funds, respectively NN Pensii (RON 151 mln), BCR Pensii (RON 45 mln) and BRD Pensii (RON 20 mln), according to Ziarul Financiar data.

The Government of Romania, as a shareholder, and pension fund managers, as bondholders, will negotiate with the IIB with a view to ‘neutralising’ the impact of the country’s withdrawal from the ‘Russian’ bank, finance minister Adrian Caciu said after the May 25 government meeting. Nothing was reported on this topic, meanwhile, and the process of pulling out from the IIB seems idle as well.

Romania has been planning to pull out of the IIB for a couple of years, but Russia invading Ukraine accelerated the process. Several Central European countries also announced their decision to quit the bank.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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