Investments & savings

How to pick the right instrument for your savings

Three tools on one page: bank deposits, the official NBR exchange rate and gold. Each answers a different question. A deposit guarantees your capital through the Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund up to 100,000 EUR per depositor, per bank, under Law 311/2015. The exchange rate helps with currency transfers, interest on EUR loans and online payments. Gold remains the classic hedge against inflation, though the gap between buy and sell prices moved between 7.3% and 11.8% at BCR and BT, per May 2026 data.

Roman Dumitrescu, former BCR analyst: "A client with 47,500 lei in cash does not have to pick just one. Splitting into three baskets, a 12-month deposit for the emergency fund, a small amount in EUR for foreign expenses and a gram or two of physical gold as a long-term hedge, works better than betting on a single asset class."

Bank deposits in 2026: what changed

Interest on lei deposits climbed from 4.82% at the end of 2024 to an NBR average of 6.73% in May 2026, after monetary policy tightened. CEC Bank and Banca Transilvania offer the market's top rates on 6 and 12-month maturities. The tax on interest stays at 10%, withheld at source, so any comparison should be made on net yield.

A sum of 23,500 lei placed for 12 months at 6.73% generates 1,581.55 lei in gross interest, which is 1,423.40 lei net after tax. The same amount left in a non-interest current account loses 6.8% of its purchasing power at the year's average inflation. The real difference comes to roughly 1,420 lei.

NBR rate vs the exchange office rate

The official NBR rate is the legal reference for contracts, tax filings and SEPA transfers. Exchange offices add a spread of 0.8% to 2.4% over the NBR rate, banks between 1.1% and 3.7% on mobile banking. For amounts under 750 EUR, the difference matters less than the fixed fee; above 4,250 EUR, picking the right exchange office can save you between 73 and 218 lei.

Gold: investment or collection

Physical gold, LBMA-certified bars or coins issued by the NBR, falls under the VAT regime with an exemption on delivery. The buy-sell spread at BCR and BT was 8.4% in May 2026, which means the price has to rise by more than that margin before the position turns profitable at liquidation. Account gold (XAU), offered by ASF-regulated brokers, involves no physical delivery, but carries its own monthly custody fee between 0.17% and 0.42%.