The first meeting in 2025 of the General Board of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight (NCMO) was held on 10 April 2025.

During the meeting, Board members examined analyses and adopted measures concerning macroprudential policy and systemic risk, namely: (i) the regular analysis on the recalibration of the countercyclical capital buffer, (ii) the draft Annual Report of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight for 2024, and (iii) the analysis on the Romanian banking sector’s exposures to Norway, considering the ESRB recommendation on the recognition through voluntary reciprocity of the macroprudential policy measure adopted by this country.

In addition, the NCMO General Board was informed of: (i) the systemic risks to financial stability identified by NCMO member authorities as per their specific area of competence, (ii) the actions taken by the addressees in order to implement the recommendations issued by the NCMO in 2024, as well as those issued in the previous period, which were not completed or are applicable on a permanent basis, and (iii) the cybersecurity stress test results for the banking sector in Romania.

The NCMO General Board approved NCMO Recommendation No. R/1/2025 on the countercyclical capital buffer. Specifically, the buffer rate is kept at 1 percent, in a general environment marked by global uncertainty, geopolitical risks, but also in the context of tensions surrounding domestic macroeconomic equilibria. Eligible borrowers’ access to finance remains unaffected, amid the adequate levels of liquidity and solvency indicators in the local banking sector, which allow the build-up of capital buffers.

Moreover, the NCMO members decided not to apply through voluntary reciprocity the macroprudential policy measure adopted by Norway, given the level of the local banking sector’s exposures to this country, well below the suggested materiality threshold.

The NCMO recommendation and decisions were unanimously approved by the NCMO General Board.

The members of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight are closely monitoring the developments related to the deterioration of the international economic environment, so as to be prepared to act if the situation calls for it.

The NCMO 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.