RBS Bank Romania, the local subsidiary of the British group that put it on the sale list at the beginning of the year, but could not find a buyer, posted 22.6 million euros in net profit in the first half, according to Romanian accounting standards (RAS), significantly more than the profits recorded by players in the top 10 ranking in terms of assets.
On June 30th, the bank recorded 1.97 billion euros in assets, which means an around 2.5% market share, around half a percentage point behind the bank on the no. 10 spot - ING Bank.
These are the results that Dutch-born Peter Weiss, 50, who has been running the credit institution for four years, since it was part of the ABN Amro group, leaves behind. When he came to Romania, in the summer of 2005, the bank had a 4.9% market share and ranked among the top 10 banks in terms of assets. The bank's position in the asset ranking weakened amid a booming retail market, but ABN Amro continued to focus on the corporate segment, with the volume of business on the consumer market remaining limited, without any significant investments made in its territorial network. Weiss is to take over as general manager of RBS Greece, where he used to work before coming to Bucharest. Johan Gabriels has been appointed as his replacement, and will take over the position in October, after he is authorised by the NBR (National Bank of Romania). The new designated head of the bank comes from the RBS Belgian subsidiary.
He has previously worked with companies such as former Arthur Andersen, Mars (the Netherlands, Russia, France), PepsiCo (France, Italy, Spain), CapitalOne (the US, the UK) and RBS, being mainly experienced in financial management.
The profit recorded by RBS Bank Romania in the first half of the year is 35% higher than that reported according to RAS to the fiscal authorities for the full 2008.
RBS Bank Roman
