Only one week after paying 2.2 billion euros, Erste Bank has already made the first changes in the BCR management yesterday, removing the heads of the retail, risk management and operations departments from office.
Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR)'s Supervisory Board headed by Andreas Treichl, Erste Bank's chief executive, himself decided to bring a Czech national to head the retail operations and replace Natalita Hurduc. The executive vice-president will be Martin Skopek, 39, who is leaving a similar position he has held with Ceska Sporitelna, the largest bank in the Czech Republic, also controlled by Erste, for six years.
Skopek says that regarding products, customer demand and purchasing power, the Romanian market reminds him of the situation in the Czech Republic in 1997-1998. He has no intention of relocating his team from Prague to Bucharest.
"For every segment I think needs changing, I will bring small groups of experts selected from the entire Erste Group. I'm looking for people with expertise in cards, micro-enterprises and service quality," says Skopek.
Before being chosen to take over the position of retail vice-president of BCR, Skopek had been courted by Czech investment fund PPF, which bought 20% in Romexterra and is looking for people to manage its acquisitions in the region.
The Austrians appointed a second vice-president yesterday, Oana Petrescu, recruited from Ernst & Young Romania to handle planning and IT operations. She replaces Ilie Mihai. Petrescu, 37, had previously been head of the consultancy and risk department and head of the financial service division. She started out at the late Bancorex, in 1992, before moving to the local office of the former consultancy Arthur Andersen in 1995, taken over by Ernst & Young in 2002.
The executive vice-president position held by Petre Preda, head of operations, is st
