ECB Induced Losses Spur Market for Bad Loans: East Europe Credit
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Investors in bad loans can thank the European Central Bank for kick-starting a market in eastern Europe that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP says reached 160 billion euros ($180 billion) last year.
Sales of non-performing loans by the Romanian units of Erste Group Bank AG and Oesterreichische Volksbanken AG since July, spurred by the ECB’s asset quality review, are paving the way for more deals in the Black Sea country, where as much as half of the 13 billion euros of bad debt may be sold, according to PwC. Heta Asset Resolution AG, an Austrian “bad bank,” sold its first debt from western Balkan countries in August.