...IDRs Driven by Parent Support: Banca Comerciala Romana S.A.'s (BCR) Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) and Support Rating are driven by the potential support it can expect to receive from its 93.6% owner, Erste Group Bank AG (Erste; BBB+/Stable). BCR's IDRs are one notch lower than Erste's, as Fitch Ratings views Romania as strategically important. The Stable Outlook reflects that of the parent. Improving Asset Quality: BCR's impaired loans ratio fell to 22.2% at end-3Q15 (EBA non- performing exposures (NPE) definition) from 30.8% at end-1H14, due to write-offs, non- performing loan (NPL) sales and recoveries. Fitch expects further improvements, given a large transaction announced in 4Q15 and a pipeline of further NPL portfolio sales, the bank's investments in recovery functions, and new loan production centred on low-risk retail loans. However, headline asset-quality indicators are weak and sensitive to still high levels of loan concentrations, and a declining but high share of euro lending....
