Financial Services And Country Risk

Importantly, to attract new customers, foreign banks will make their reputation in the region by addressing several areas (retail banking, asset management ...) and extending their geographical coverage, in contrast to local, often focused on a number few countries. This strategy requires a deployment capitalizing on existing settlements, focusing on synergies (sharing of customer data ...), and market knowledge already acquired with the risks, a decisive element in the investment decision.


Indeed, Central Europe in particular differs from other popular markets like China and India by showing a mainly political and economic situation almost stabilized. Of course some main regulatory obstacles remain, like the restrictions governing credit growth, to inhibit growth in net banking income. Also binding regulations set by some central banks in the region often impose bureaucratic processes. Also, banks will have to deal with financial transparency may be limited, to understand the economic health of their third example.

However, the states of Central Europe, mostly integrated into the EU, should be quickly put in line with European standards and guidelines and promote the establishment of foreign banks. Their alignment of means of payment or accounting standards is remarkable.

Still, the disparities within the region persist. Some states of Eastern Europe have large current account deficits and political instability, like the Balkans. Therefore, it is questionable whether these countries will be able to follow the path of the "leading countries" such as Slovenia, Hungary or the Czech Republic and converge to a stable market economy and conducive to the rapid emergence of financial services. From this perspective, Europe is undoubtedly a great ally.