The onset of subprime and later eurozone debt crises from 2008 onward sparked concerns that the supply of lending to central and eastern Europe (CEE) might dry up. The majority of banking sectors in major regional economies such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania are in the hands of foreign – mostly eurozone – banks.
This prompted the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to launch a local currency and capital markets development initiative (LCI) at its annual meeting in 2010, as a way of reducing dependence on hard currency and parent funding in its countries of operation.