The fourth meeting of this year of the General Board of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight (NCMO) was held on 15 December 2021 by written procedure.

During the meeting, Board members examined analyses and adopted measures concerning macroprudential policy and systemic risk.

The NCMO General Board was informed of: (i) the up-to-date assessment of macroprudential instruments since their implementation in the national legislation, (ii) the impact of interest rate risk on the banking sector’s government securities portfolio and interest rate-sensitive assets and liabilities, (iii) the systemic risks identified across the domestic financial system, (iv) the implementation of Recommendation ESRB/2020/8 on monitoring the financial stability implications of debt moratoria, and public guarantee schemes and other measures of a fiscal nature taken to protect the real economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and (v) the implementation of Recommendation of the European Systemic Risk Board amending Recommendation ESRB/2016/14 on closing real estate data gaps (ESRB/2019/3).

On this occasion, Board members unanimously approved NCMO Recommendation No. R/9/2021 on the countercyclical capital buffer in Romania. Following the continued accelerating trend in lending, while recent developments do not show a relief of tensions surrounding macroeconomic equilibria, the National Bank of Romania is recommended to keep in place the measure on raising the countercyclical buffer rate to 0.5 percent, as of 17 October 2022, and to further monitor developments in the economy and lending, in a context still riddled with uncertainty.

Moreover, the NCMO General Board decided to set up a working group mandated to support financial intermediation.

The National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight was established by virtue of Law No. 12/2017 on the macroprudential oversight of the national financial system, thus ensuring that Recommendation of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) No. 3/2011 on the macroprudential mandate of national authorities was implemented. The NCMO brings together representatives of the National Bank of Romania, the Financial Supervisory Authority and the Government of Romania. The NCMO’s mission is to ensure coordination in the field of macroprudential oversight of the national financial system by setting the macroprudential policy and the appropriate instruments for its implementation.