* Dragoş Bîlteanu, the top contender for becoming chairman of SIF1, according to sources

Last night, on the occasion of the reception held to celebrate the anniversary of 20 years of institutional activity, Ioan Cuzman announced he would step down from the position of president of SIF1 Banat Crişana.

The vice-president of the company, Dragoş Bîlteanu, is the top contender for the helm of SIF1, according to some sources close to the situation.

Before a numerous audience, consisting of SIF1 shareholders, directors of bank branches of Arad, heads of multinational companies as well as local authorities that on Friday, he would meet with the members of the Board of Directors and that he intends to step down.

Ioan Cuzman has served as president of SIF Banat Crişana for the last 17 years. He has declined to publicize the reasons which caused him to make this decision.

* After 20 years of activity, the president of SIF Banat Crişana concedes the blame for the reactions to the economic crisis

The president of SIF Banat Crişana, Ioan Cuzman, accepts the blame for a certain failure, in the 20 years of operations, namely the fact that he did not react very well to the economic crisis, like he said on Thursday, in a press conference held in Arad.

Ioan Cuzman said that he could blame himself for the fact that it took longer for the management of the company to adapt to the context generated by the economic crisis.

The president of SIF1 said: "I think I have misread some of the signs of the crisis, because some of our reactions to this phenomenon have been belated. We had a reactive attitude when it comes to the crisis. We had no major problems, but perhaps we could have performed better".

Nevertheless, even though we are in full crisis, SIF Banat Crişana is doing very well in terms of cash, and the president of the co