Oana Ilaș, Deputy CEO, Retail Banking, BT, took part in the podcast of the Alternative Banking Dispute Resolution Center (CSALB), focused on financial education.

In conversation with Cornel Dinu, founder of Banking News, Oana Ilaș discussed the long-term relationship between banks and consumers, raising customer awareness of products associated with loans, how consumption behavior evolved in 2020 – 2022, and Romania’s outlook on financial inclusion.

• Conciliation is a crucial step in taking contractual relationships between banks and consumers to another level, where dialogue plays a much bigger part. In recent years we’ve seen a paradigm shift, with more and more consumers coming to the bank first to have that dialogue. Conciliation helps put the medium- and long-term health of this relationship on a much stronger footing.

• Recently we’ve seen more and more clients who, when they plan to buy a property, come to realize—after talking with a bank representative—all the associated costs, not just those tied to the loan itself. The larger the property, and if it isn’t highly energy efficient, on top of the mortgage payment you will have higher upkeep, possibly bigger repair costs; the building may not be in the best condition and you’ll need to take on collateral costs.

• In the past few years there have been dramatic shifts in customer behavior: many embraced online payments during the pandemic and started using less cash. Cash, as a share of what happens in a branch, has fallen significantly, and the branch has become a place for dialogue and advice.

• We’ve also noticed a lower appetite for impulse purchases; people are saving a larger share of what they earn, even though real incomes are under pressure.

• Non-performing loans are currently at a historic low in Romania. We have undoubtedly entered this more difficult period with very different starting conditions than in past episodes of crisis.

• I believe banks have matured alongside consumers, and that contributes to a sense of greater mutual trust. At the same time, consumers have become much more demanding in their relationships with banks, and I think that is very healthy.

• Even though Romania still lags Europe when it comes to financial education and inclusion, I’d say we’re on the right track, and you can see that in the financial inclusion rate—a 10 percentage point increase between 2018 and 2022, to close to 70%. There’s still room to improve and to reach further into rural areas, because as digitalisation advances we rely a bit less on the physical footprint.

You can watch the full interview below.