Besim Jawad, Fabien Lecoq and Phil Jones are the three top expatriate executives in Romanian private pension system. Wall-Street presents their first impression of a maturing market and how their initial views influence their current actions as well as the necessary changes that could bring the local market closer to a mature and improved level.

First impressions and influences over the present

To Besim Jawad (photo), general manager of Eureko Pensii, the first contact with the local pillar II system in Romania took place in September 2007.

“There were many things needed to be done at that time, but the marketr was headed in the good direction. Nowadays, a broad view over the pension system shows it is functional, it is running. And at that time, nobody had the certainty of its serviceability, or that it would be successful”, said Jawad.

Some of the first impressions that Phil Jones had after his first contact with the local pension market in August 2007 remained unchanged. “We are still witnessing changes in the regulatory framework and unfortunately, some are not in favor of the market players. I am referring to the postponement of increase in contributions. We hope this is only a (very) short term measure, and the market will eventually take up the initial calendar”, says Jones.

In his first interview to a Romanian newspaper, Fabien Lecoq, general manager BRD Pensii, who had arrived in Romania in June 2007, right before the Pillar-II pension plan took its first steps, tells Wall-Street that his first impression was of the fierce competition between administrators. “At that time, Romania, both on TV and in the streets, was jammed with administrators’ commercials, preparing the ground for the first enrollment of participants to private pension funds, which marked the takeoff of the market”, says Lecoq.

“Romanian private pension s