Competition and Consumer Protection in the Romanian Banking Sector

Iacovoiu, Viorela; Stancu, Adrian Article Competition and Consumer Protection in the Romanian Banking Sector Amfiteatru Economic Journal Provided in Cooperation with: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies Suggested Citation: Iacovoiu, Viorela; Stancu, Adrian (2017) : Competition and Consumer Protection in the Romanian Banking Sector, Amfiteatru Economic Journal, ISSN 2247-9104, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Vol. 19, Iss. 45, pp. 381-396 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/169078 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Competition's Policy – a Tool to Protect Consumer's Rights and Interests AE Vol. 19 • No. 45 • May 2017 381 COMPETITION AND CONSUMER PROTECTION IN THE ROMANIAN BANKING SECTOR Viorela Iacovoiu1 ∗ and Adrian Stancu2 1) 2) Petroleum-Gas University of Ploieşti, Romania Please cite this article as: Iacovoiu, V. and Stancu, A., 2017. Competition and Consumer Protection in Romanian Banking Sector. Amfiteatru Economic, 19(45), pp. 381-396. Article History Received: 30 December 2016 Revised: 16 January 2017 Accepted: 22 March 2017 Abstract This study highlights the relationship between the competitive environment in the domestic banking sector and the protection of consumers’ rights and interests. The research is focused on three areas: analysis of the competitive environment, based on detailed analysis of the degree of concentration, the average interest rate spread on loans and deposits, and clients’ mobility; analysis of the distribution and causes of the complaints made by consumers of banking products and services; the correlation between the bank's market share and the number of complaints registered by it, using the ranks difference correlation nonparametric Spearman's test. The results of the analysis highlighted a strong and direct relationship between the competitive position of the bank and the number of the complaints it registered, proving that the competitive environment in the banking sector does not ensure the real protection of consumers’ rights and interests. Considering the results of the research, we proposed at the end of the study, clear and consistent measures in order to: improve the consumers’ financial literacy; reduce information asymmetry and stimulate competition in the banking sector; increase consumers’ trust in the financial sector; generate beneficial and sustainable effects. Keywords: competition, consumer protection, banking sector, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, client mobility, complaint, Spearman’s correlation coefficient. JEL Classification: D18, G21, G28 Introduction As compared to other fields, the relationship between the consumer and the supplier of banking products and services is more complex and more sensitive to the changes brought about by external factors. On the one hand, as the transactions involve non-negotiable cash ∗ Corresponding author, Viorela Iacovoiu – [email protected] AE Competition and Consumer Protection in Romanian Banking Sector 382 Amfiteatru Economic assets on variable periods of time, this relationship requires a high level of trust from the consumer towards the chosen bank. On the other hand, the banking system is fragile in its nature, which is why it is extremely regulated and supervised, the policies imposed by the regulators having a direct and significant impact upon the strategies adopted by the banks and implicitly upon their relationship with the consumer. Taking into account that a supplier-consumer relationship based on trust requires a high degree of transparency and implicitly, the client thorough information regarding the acquired products or services, it is obvious that a long-term relationship between the bank and its consumers has multiple advantages from this perspective. On the other hand, although a long-term relationship represents, to some extent, the solution to the asymmetric information issue, it still holds the disadvantage of diminishing the competition in the banking sector, as the consumers are no longer stimulated to search and acquire products or services from other credit institutions. In addition, the financial crisis that started in 2007 has significantly changed the relationship between consumers and credit institutions, as: (i) consumers’ trust in the credit institutions decreased considerably; (ii) uncertainty in the financial banking sector increased; (iii) bankruptcy in the case of some well-known banks and the necessity of operational costs diminution brought about massive changes in the banking sector both at the global level, and at the regional level; (iv) new regulations were adopted to ensure the stability of the financial sector (Nagy and Benyovszky, 2013; Smick, 2009). The global financial crisis triggered by excessive lending, especially in the US mortgage market, has demonstrated the importance of the protection of consumers of banking products and services in order to ensure financial stability. As a result, new reforms were introduced at both national and international levels, and a set of high level principles and good practices have been developed aiming to improve consumer protection. Furthermore, representative international organizations and institutions, such as the World Bank (WB), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Commission (EC), European Parliament (EP) and European Banking Federation (EBF) conducted a series of studies and research that address issues of the protection of consumers of financial products and services in the current context. However, ensuring an equilibrium between consumers’ and banks’ interests, under a strongly regulated market, is a difficult goal to achieve, especially in developing countries that are "most vulnerable", as they are exposed to rapid development and diversification of financial products and services, while most consumers do not have the experience and knowledge to choose and use them (EBF, 2014; EP, 2014; EC, 2012). Therefore, we consider particularly important the studies approaching this topic, which is also the case for the present paper that mainly aims at highlighting the relationship between the competitive environment in the Romanian banking sector and the protection of consumers’ rights and interests. In this respect, the research is focused on three areas: (i) analysis of the competitive environment in the banking sector; (ii) analysis of the distribution and causes of the complaints made by consumers in relation to the most important banks; (iii) highlighting the correlation between the bank's market share and the number of complaints it registered. Competition's Policy – a Tool to Protect Consumer's Rights and Interests AE Vol. 19 • No. 45 • May 2017 383 1. Literature review The disequilibrium, attributable to the unbalanced power, information and resources held by the providers of financial products and services to the detriment of their consumers, places the latter in a prejudicial position which imposes consumer protection measures for the clear benefit of both parties. In this regard, the extant literature points out that consumer protection and financial education promote efficiency and transparency, stimulating competition, while ensuring stability of financial markets (EP, 2014; WB, 2013; Mandell and Klein, 2009; Brown et al., 2005). The previous financial crises and the one started in 2007 revealed “consumers’ low level of understanding of financial products and services” (Valant, 2015), “financial illiteracy” is “widespread even in well-developed financial markets such as, among others, those of Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden in Europe and Japan and the USA” (Atkinson and Messy, 2012). With respect to the European Union (EU) Member States, the results of surveys conducted by the EC during the years following the crisis show that due to their low level of understanding financial products and services, more than half of EU citizens prefer simple products and services, 52% of the consumers who would like a new current bank account or a new credit card tend to acquire the first product, and over 80% of the consumers never change the provider of banking products/services (EC, 2012; EC, 2011). The Eurobarometer survey on financial services (EP, 2014) led to the identification of three main features of the European consumers’ behavior, namely: • The ownership rate of various financial products varies considerably from product to product and from one Member State to another. For example, in Romania the current bank account ownership rate is only 27%, significantly lower than the EU average (84%) and Denmark (100%). In the case of investment funds, ownership rates vary from 0% in Romania and Bulgaria (which means a level so low that it cannot be identified in the survey sample) to 30% in Sweden; • “Consumers do not buy financial products frequently”. Thus, at the EU level, only 56% of the respondents have purchased a financial product in the last 5 years prior to the study; • “Generally consumers do not tend to switch financial products provider”. At the EU level, between 81% (in the case of mortgage loans) and 85% (for credit cards and current bank accounts) of consumers did not switch provider in the past 5 years preceding the study. Although the academic literature highlights “a positive correlation between poor financial literacy and suboptimal financial outcomes”, there is no consensus on “the overall efficacy of financial education” (Hastings, Madrian and Skimmyhorn, 2013). Thus, an analysis of “the impact of financial literacy programs” concluded that “financial literacy and capability interventions can have a positive impact in some areas (increasing saving and promoting financial skills) but not in others”, as for example “credit default” (Miller et al., 2014). Recent findings from behavioral studies have confirmed the hypothesis that “consumers' ability to make rational and informed choices is limited” (Gathergood, 2012). The results of these studies led to the conclusion that “consumers’ empowerment through information AE Competition and Consumer Protection in Romanian Banking Sector 384 Amfiteatru Economic disclosure and financial education is likely to be insufficient to adequately protect all consumers” (EP, 2014). Therefore, in order to boost competition in the banking sector and increase the effectiveness of consumer protection, policy makers and regulatory and control authorities have a particularly important role (EP, 2014; EC, 2012; Armstrong, 2008). According to experts, the regulators and competition authorities should: “consult one another for the purpose of ensuring the establishment, application and enforcement of consistent policies regarding the regulation of financial services”; systematically evaluate “the impact of competition policies on consumer welfare” (WB, 2012). In this regard, in 2012 the World Bank developed the code of “Good Practices for Financial Consumer Protection” (GP). This is “a diagnostic tool” which provides decision makers with a wide range of options regarding the adequate policies to be adopted in order to ensure the protection of consumers of financial products and services. Essentially, the GP establishes clear rules of conduct for financial institutions, so that consumers: “receive information to allow them to make informed decisions; are not subjected to unfair or deceptive practices; have access to recourse mechanisms to resolve disputes” (WB, 2012). Regarding the relationship between European consumers and banks, a number of studies conducted by the European Commission revealed a variety of irregularities, as follows: “financial services providers do not always respect the rules”; financial advisors do not always recommend suitable products to consumers according to their needs and they appear to be more interested in the amount invested rather than in their ability to reimburse the investment; “many consumers do not receive advice when purchasing financial products and services, but when they do, they tend to rely on the product provider” (Valant, 2015). Moreover, a research conducted by the EP identified the financial products and services with high risk to consumers, namely: (i) mortgage products, mainly variable rate mortgages, foreign currency mortgages, high loan-to value and debt-to-income mortgages; (ii) “loan products which carry a high risk of a substantial residual liability” due to “lack of proper debt discharge or reduction mechanisms”; (iii) credit products with high interest rates, especially "instant loans" and credit cards with high rates combined with high limits; (iv) “savings, investment and pension products with high charges which reduce net returns to savers” (EP, 2014). At the EU level, aiming "to improve financial literacy in order to promote healthier financial behavior and financial welfare", have been developed and implemented national strategies for financial education in 13 Member States, namely Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden (OECD, 2015). Generally, these strategies were focused on the following directions: (i) compulsory financial education in the school curriculum; (ii) creating websites for consumers and/or specialized online learning portals; (iii) the development of educational materials dedicated to different age groups; (iv) workshops and "open days" organized in collaboration with various representative institutions, such as universities, banks etc. (EBF, 2015). As compared with these countries, Romania did not finalize and implemented a national strategy, although it ranks last in the EU in terms of financial education. According to the results of the study conducted by Standard & Poor's in 2015, only 22% of the adults are financially educated, as compared with 71% in Sweden, 67% in United Kingdom, 66% in Competition's Policy – a Tool to Protect Consumer's Rights and Interests AE Vol. 19 • No. 45 • May 2017 385 the Netherlands, 58% in the Czech Republic, 55% in Belgium, 49% in Spain, 44% in Croatia, and 35% in Bulgaria (Klapper, Lusardi and van Oudheusden, 2015). The lack of financial education has generated the Romanian consumers’ distrust in the banking system, as demonstrated by the results of the survey conducted by GfK Romania in May 2016 on 1,022 respondents that shows that only 40% of Romanians trust banks. According to this study, with a view to having their trust increased, consumers believe that the following should be achieved: “better interest (25%); communication, information, and education (18%); fairness, reliability and compliance with contractual terms (17%); transparency and clear information (14%); financial safety and stability (5%); improved contractual terms (5%); understanding and openness towards the client (5%); affable and well-trained bank clerks (1%)” (Wall-Street, 2016). Therefore, both the experience of other EU Member States and a number of studies and research conducted in the past years show that adopting and implementing clear rules of conduct for banking institutions, while improving financial education, will enhance consumer trust in financial markets, stimulate competition, and increase efficiency of the measures for their protection. 2. Methodology With a view to rigorously analyze the competition in the banking sector, we used the statistical data provided by the Competition Council (CC) and by the National Bank of Romania (BNR) as regards the degree of concentration and the average interest rate spread on loans and deposits. The degree of concentration in the banking sector was estimated according to the value of the two indicators used by CC, namely Concentration Rate and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. The concentration rate (RC10) was calculated for the first 10 banks in the sector summing up their market share. The IHH was computed summing up the squared market share of all the banks in the sector, its value highlighting the following situations: IHH < 1000 – low concentration; 1000 < IHH < 1800 – medium concentration; IHH > 1800 – high concentration. The average interest rate spread on loans and deposits was analyzed by means of a set of relevant indicators, namely the difference between the interest rate on leu loans and deposits, and on euro respectively, and the interest margin on leu portfolios as well as on euro denominated portfolios, in the case of the population household. In order to analyze the distribution and main reasons of the complaints filed by the consumers regarding the most important banks in Romania, we made use of the site http://www.reclamatiibanci.ro/, which represents the only available online source to provide relatively complete information. Out of the 358 complaints available online at the moment of our analysis, only 142 complaints were selected, which meet the following requirements: the name of the bank was explicitly stated; they were filed by individuals; they were related to services provided by banking institutions. In order to identify the correlation between the competitive position of the analyzed banks and the number of complaints registered by them, it was used the ranks difference correlation nonparametric Spearman's test because the two variables have fewer than 30 AE Competition and Consumer Protection in Romanian Banking Sector 386 Amfiteatru Economic records. The correlation coefficient was calculated with the equation (1), where d represents the ranks difference, and n is the number of records. (1) The correlation coefficient values, within the range [-1, 1], shall read: [-0,25, 0) and (0, 0,25] – very weak correlation; [-0,5, -0,251] and [0,251, 0.5] – weak correlation; [-0,75, - 0,501] and [0,501, 0,75] – moderate correlation; (-1, -0,751] and [0,751, 1) – strong correlation. The values higher than zero indicate a direct correlation, while negative values mean an inverse correlation. The zero value indicates no correlation, and (+1) or (-1) shows a perfect correlation (Hickson, 2008). 3. Competitive environment analysis In the last few years, the number of banks in Romania was constant; an understandable evolution if we take into account the obstacles at the market entry and at its exit, as well as the uncertainty brought about by the economic crisis with regard to the stability of the economic environment and its development prospects. According to the data provided by BNR, between 2013 and 2015 there were 40 credit institutions in the banking sector, out of which 38 relying on private capital, and 2 state owned, namely CEC Bank and EximBank. Of all 38 private capital banks, 34 mostly rely on foreign capital, of which 9 are branches of some foreign banks (BNR, 2015). Within this period, there were recorded no significant changes regarding the degree of concentration of the banking sector, as shown by the evolution of the concentration indicators presented in table below (table no. 1). Table no. 1: Degree of concentration of the banking sector, 2013-2015 Concentration indicators 2013 2014 2015 RC10 (%) 78.31 78.11 812 IHH3 (points) 821 797 812 Source: Consiliul Concurenţei (CC), 2015, p.43; Medrega, 2016; Banca Naţională a României (BNR), 2015, p. 71 As compared to 2013 and 2014 when the first 10 banks in the sector accumulated a market share of almost 78%, in 2015 their market share rose with almost 3 percentage points, mainly owing to Volksbank takeover by Banca Transilvania (BT). The IHH recorded a similar evolution, its value being situated constantly below 1000 points. In this context, CC considered the degree of concentration in the banking sector as “low to medium”, which leads to “relatively high competition” (CC, 2015), whereas BNR believes that “the degree of concentration of the Romanian banking sector remains moderate” (BNR, 2015). However, it is noted that the first two banks (BCR and BRD) dominated the banking sector in 2013 and 2014. Once Volksbank was taken over by BT in 2015, it joined the leaders that accumulated a market share of 41.4%, which is more than half of the market share of the first 10 active players (table no. 2). Competition's Policy – a Tool to Protect Consumer's Rights and Interests AE Vol. 19 • No. 45 • May 2017 387 Table no. 2: Market share of the first 10 banks in Romania, 2013-2015 (percentages) No Banks 20131 20141 20152 I2015/20133 1. BCR 17.5 16.2 15.8 90.3 2. BRD 13.0 12.4 13.0 100 3. Banca Transilvania 8.9 9.8 12.6 141.6 4. Raiffeisen Bank 7.3 7.9 8.4 115.1 5. UniCredit Bank 7.6 7.9 8.1 106.6 6. CEC Bank 7.4 7.7 7.3 98.6 7. ING Bank 5.0 5.1 6.3 126 8. Alpha Bank 4.5 4.6 4.0 88.9 9. Volksbank 3.8 3.4 - - 10. Bancpost 3.3 3.1 3.0 90.9 11. Garanti 2,0* 2,2* 2.5 125 Total (RC10) 78.3 78.1 81 - Source: Consiliul Concurenţei (CC), 2015, p.43; Medrega, 2016; authors’ computation. Note: *These values are not included in the calculation of RC10 Within the period of time under focus, part of the main market players lost ground (BCR, CEC Bank, Alpha Bank, and Bancpost) to the advantage of other important competitors, as for example BT, Raiffeisen Bank, and ING Bank, which proves the banks’ concern to attract new clients. In this context, in 2015 the first 7 banks accumulated a market share of 71.5% as compared to only 66.7% in 2013. It is also worth mentioning that the cumulative value of the market shares held by the three leaders (BCR, BRD, and BT) rose from 39.4% in 2013 to 41.4% in 2015. As regards the market share distribution among the other 30 banks, the data provided by the CC highlight the fact that 10 of them had between 1% and 3% market share, whereas the other 20 held market share values below 1% (CC, 2015). Considering these aspects, we contend that: the banking sector is actually dominated by seven credit institutions; there is a tendency of concentration growth, although it remains at a moderate level. The analysis of the data regarding the average interest rate spread on loans and deposits (SRMD) highlights the descending evolution recorded by the interest margin on lei portfolios, mainly due to the constant decrease of the key interest rate from 4% to the historic minimum of 1.75%, as compared to the euro denominated portfolios, for which SRMD increased by 1.5% for the existing loans and deposits and by 3.4% for the new ones (table no. 3). Table no. 3: SRMD evolution, 2013-2015 (percentages) Indicators 2013 2014 2015 Jan. July Jan. July Jan. July Existing loans (lei) – Existing deposits (lei) 6.2 6.0 5.5 5.4 4.8 4.9 New loans (lei) – New deposits (lei) 5.1 5.3 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.9 Existing loans (euro) – Existing deposits (euro) 2.3 2.5 3.0 3.3 3.4 3.8 New loans (euro) – New deposits (euro) 1.8 2.5 3.3 2.7 3.3 3.3 MD existing loans – deposits for the population (lei) 8.0 7.8 7.1 6.8 6.3 6.0 MD new loans – deposits for the population (lei) 6.8 6.8 5.1 5.0 4.8 5.1 MD existing loans – deposits for the population (euro) 2.5 2.7 3.2 3.5 3.6 4.0 MD new loans – deposits for the population (euro) 1.0 1.8 2.7 3.7 4.1 4.4 Source: Consiliul Concurenţei (CC), 2015, pp.49-50. Note: MD – interest margin AE Competition and Consumer Protection in Romanian Banking Sector 388 Amfiteatru Economic The SRMD divergent evolutions are mainly brought about by the increased number of loans in lei than in euro, as a result of BNR policy to stimulate crediting in the national currency, which led to a significant increase of credits in lei, representing approx. 96% of new loans granted in 2013-2015. However, foreign currency loans are still the main component of household indebtedness, the stock of foreign currency loans representing 55% of total household loans at the level of the year 2015. Moreover, the degree of population indebtedness in 2015 was very high, i.e. approximately 68%, with a significant weight of the debtors having an income lower than the minimum net wage per economy (BNR, 2015). For a complete and rigorous analysis of clients’ mobility, several aspects must be taken into account regarding the evolution of the banking sector in Romania between 2013 and 2015. The restructuring of the domestic banking sector that began with the financial crisis led to the decreased number of units in the system, as well as of employees, which had a negative impact upon the population’s access to the bank services. Statistics show that in 2015 a territorial bank unit served on average around 3,760 people, that is 53% more than the European average (2,450 people), and an employee served around 345 people, which is double compared to the European average of 175 people/bank clerk (BNR, 2015). According to the survey entitled “Financial education” conducted by GfK Romania in May 2016 (Wall-Street, 2016), most of the Romanian consumers would like to be better informed with regard to the following aspects: risk diversification (67%); effective annual interest rate (60%); interest capitalization (59%); “means of attracting a loan so as not to incur financial troubles” (59%); anticipated reimbursement (57%); degree of indebtedness (57%). This data proves that due to the deficient financial education of the population together with the insufficient information on acquired financial products and services, consumers’ mobility is low because they do not have the necessary knowledge and information to choose the best products or services that suit their needs and expectations, which represents the essential feature of a competitive market. In our opinion, more restrictive crediting standards corroborated with a high level of population indebtedness, in the context of banking sector restructuration and information asymmetry, created the premises for reducing the clients’ mobility. Taking into account that within a normal competitive environment clients’ mobility should increase while reducing SRMD, we conclude that the presented analysis highlights the decreasing tendency of the competition in the Romanian banking sector, which is basically monopolized by the dominant banks, namely BCR, BRD, BT, Raiffeisen, UniCredit, CEC, and ING Bank. 4. Consumer complaints analysis The goal of this analysis, based on the information obtained through the processing of complains recorded on the site http://www.reclamatiibanci.ro/, is to highlight, on the one hand, the distribution of complaints among the most important domestic banks, and on the other hand, the causes of the complaints. 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