A recent study of the National Marketing Association shows that only 21% of the population keeps their savings in banks. Asked to comment on these data, National Bank governor Dorin Dragutanu said he does not believe that the reason is the distrust in the banking system, IPN reports.

“The signal that I, as governor of the BNM, got from this study is that the central bank and the commercial banks must step up the financial inclusion process so that the people overcome the fear or, to be exact, the discomfort of entering the bank to open an account and perform certain bank operations,” said Dorin Dragutanu.

He also said that there is another indicator that the BNM is monitoring – the share of deposits in the GDP, which has increased continuously since 2000. Currently, the balance of deposits in the banking system represents almost 40% of the GDP.  “I mean the volume. But, as to the number of persons who deposit money in banks, effort should be made to ensure the people’s financial inclusion. We should be insistent as concerns the financial education of people,” said Dorin Dragutanu.

As regards the commercial banks, the governor said that they must be more open to the clients. The bank employees should not wait in the chairs for the clients to go in, but take steps to include them in the system.