ZF Bankers Summit '26

ZF Bankers Summit 2026 June 2–3–4 15th edition How are banks navigating the complicated times we are living through? How can the banking system support the economy and companies in times of high risk? How can private investment be restarted in order to generate economic growth and support the development of the banking system? Special focus, day three: “The insurance market.” ZF Bankers Summit, now in its 15th edition and the most important event in Romania’s banking industry, returns to the forefront in 2026, at a time when the world is facing an increasing number of crises and wars. These are affecting economic growth and public confidence. In Romania specifically, the economy and business environment are facing a slowdown in growth due to the urgent need to correct macroeconomic imbalances: the fiscal deficit, trade deficit, and current account deficit. Looking back, the current situation is much better than what Romania has gone through over the last two decades. The economy and companies are much more resilient, and the financial resources available to entrepreneurs and the population are much greater. The banking system is managing to navigate all crises well, given that its prudential, solvency, and liquidity indicators are at extremely solid levels. However, the problem is that the engines of economic growth have slowed. Consumption has declined due to lower purchasing power, and in the future, growth should be based on investment, whether public or private. But where will these private investments come from, who will make them, and who will finance them, given the times we are facing? The National Bank of Romania is managing to maintain a balance between the stability of the leu-euro exchange rate, interest rates in lei, and ensuring budget financing, which is an extremely stressful issue. If it had not been for the war in Iran and the Middle East, 2026 should have been Romania’s year: inflation should have fallen from 9% to 3–4%, and from the second half of this year the National Bank should have started reducing the 6.5% reference interest rate, which would have sent an important signal to the economy. At least for now, this scenario is no longer valid. Rising oil and gas prices will be reflected in price increases and inflation, disrupting the plan to lower interest rates. The economy is facing a recession that began in 2024 and has only now come to the surface. The question is how we avoid moving from recession into crisis, how we prevent economic distrust from spreading across the whole economy, and how we prevent businesses from taking many steps backward in an attempt to protect themselves from the current environment. If political stability is maintained, Romania will not enter a financial crisis involving a rising exchange rate, rising interest rates, much harder state financing, a downgrade of the country rating, and so on. Tax and duty increases have had a significant negative impact on the economy and business, but this must be overcome. Because it has an extremely solid financial position, the banking system can support the financing of the private economy and the state. Many questions remain in business, especially regarding the bankability of Romanian entrepreneurial companies, and this situation cannot be resolved overnight. It is true that banks are raising their risk thresholds given the macroeconomic context, but this does not mean that loans are not being granted. Business and economic life move forward. Today’s complicated times determine tomorrow’s winners and losers; they determine who can accelerate and grow much faster than they would in times of calm and peace. The retail banking market continues to grow despite the turbulence Romania is facing. Statistically, savings are at their highest level, and banks’ appetite for mortgage and consumer lending remains fairly high. Interest rates in lei have not fallen, but they have not increased either. The Romanian financial market — made up of the banking market, insurance market, capital market/stock exchange, and the state and private guarantee market — must continue to become much more present in the economy and offer more diverse products that support companies, especially Romanian companies, in both local and international growth. Romania must prepare, from the perspective of financial products across all market segments, for times when European funds will be reduced or financing will change. The best example is the SAFE program for Europe’s rearmament, which will redirect money away from other sectors. The Romanian banking system must consolidate. Romania needs much stronger banks that can cope with the times and with the financing needs of the economy, companies, and the state. Small banks have limited presence capacity and cannot carry out medium and large projects. The Romanian banking market has 34 banks, of which the top 10 hold a market share exceeding 80%. I do not know whether imports can be stopped, but the question is how exports can grow more, and here the weak link is related to exports by Romanian companies. In fact, the question is how Romanian entrepreneurial companies can expand more into foreign markets and find other markets for selling the products and services they produce, in order to compensate for the clear slowdown of the Romanian economy. ZF Bankers Summit 2026 focuses on how banks navigate the crises we are going through: how we bring the economy, business, Romanian entrepreneurial companies, and, not least, the state safely through these conditions so that we can then return to economic growth. The current state of the banking system, the challenges banks face, how companies and individuals finance themselves in such times, how the banking system can grow and pull the economy forward, and how Romania can return to annual economic growth of 3–5% will be topics of discussion at ZF Bankers Summit 2026. Digitalization, automation, new technologies, and AI are rapidly changing banking processes and customer interaction. The digital world we live in requires much faster and more complex operations carried out from mobile phones. Companies themselves must become much more digital and automated if they want to be more competitive. The creation of banking products and services, as well as their marketing and sale, is changing extremely quickly. Competition is becoming increasingly intense, as banks compete for the same business and the same customers, while companies’ and customers’ expectations of the banking system are increasingly high. Fintechs that succeed in transforming into banks are putting increasing pressure on banks, which must adapt much faster. Banking human resources are also beginning to change: there is greater demand for technology skills, traditional roles are changing, and the number of employees needed by a bank is decreasing. As a result, the complexity of banking HR is becoming more visible. As customers, Generation Z is beginning to change banks, being more familiar with applications and interaction through mobile phones, and less familiar with interaction at the counter. The Romanian banking system is under pressure to skip stages and bring more of the economy and business sector into the banking system. This is one of the main topics under discussion. On the third day of ZF Bankers Summit 2026, ZF Insurance will take place, an event dedicated to the insurance market — a market that needs to gain more ground and become more involved in the economy, given the low level of insurance presence in business.