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Methodology and sources

Where the data comes from, when it updates and how the calculations are made.

Data sources

We take the data straight from the institutions that publish it and keep it unchanged. Next to every figure you see its source, the date it applies to and when it was last updated.

  • Exchange rates and the gold price: National Bank of Romania, from the official XML files, with history since 2005. BNR publishes every banking day, shortly after 13:00.
  • EURIBOR: European Central Bank, monthly averages for the 1, 3, 6 and 12-month tenors.
  • Inflation: Eurostat, the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) for Romania, monthly. We calculate the annual rate from the index; it can differ slightly from the rate published by Romania's statistics office, which uses a national methodology.
  • S&P 500: Professor Robert Shiller's monthly series, taken through datahub.io. It is the price index, without dividends, as a monthly average of daily closes.
  • Bitcoin: the daily average price in dollars published by Blockchain.com.
  • Cryptocurrencies: the list is the ten largest by market value according to CoinGecko, checked several times a day, without stablecoins and without wrapped copies of other coins. Live prices and daily closing prices come from Binance, from each coin's pair with USDT, a token that tracks the dollar; we show them as dollars. Prices in euro and lei are the dollar price converted at the latest BNR rates.

When it updates

An automated job checks each source daily, and the BNR rate several times after its publication hour. Cryptocurrency prices are the exception: our server asks for them again every 30 seconds while someone is reading the page. If a source is late or doesn't respond, we keep showing the last known value, and the label next to the figure flags that the data is older than usual.

How figures are shown

Exchange rates are shown to four decimals, as BNR publishes them. For currencies quoted per 100 units (the forint or the yen, for example) we show the rate for 100 units. The daily change compares the rate with the previous banking day's.

Calculators

Each calculator has a section beneath it explaining the formula used. The calculations run in your browser, and the figures you enter appear in the page address so you can save or send the result.

The backtest uses monthly average prices in lei. Assets quoted in dollars are converted at the monthly average BNR rate. Results leave out fees and taxes.

The costs of buying a home

The purchase-costs calculator uses the official scales: notaries' minimum fees from Justice Minister Order 177/C/2024 and land-registry charges from ANCPI Order 16/2019, as currently in force. When either changes, we update the calculator.

Charts

The charts on the exchange-rate and interest-rate pages use the Lightweight Charts library, developed by TradingView.

Found a mistake?

Write to us and we'll correct it.

Contact: IBank · [email protected]