* Interview with Radu Graţian Gheţea, the president of the Chairman of the Board and of CEC Bank
The low degree of use of bank services in Romania is caused by the fact that an important segment of the population does not want or can not use the services provided by banks, says Radu Graţian Gheţea, the president of the Board of Directors of the Romanian Banking Association (ARB) and of CEC Bank. Many people are counted as bank customers, even though they only use them because they are forced to, due to the fact that they collect their salaries through bank accounts, he warned. He also said that banks are present in rural areas, when there are opportunities to be exploited.
Banks are trying to rebuild confidence in their relationship with their customers, which was deeply affected over the last few years, the president of the Romanian Banking Association and of CEC Bank said, who also said that the trying of the lawsuits concerning the abusive terms of the loan contracts is also beneficial to customers, not just to lenders.
The banking community is open to a law of the insolvency of individuals, but it wants a draft law on that issue to take into consideration the amendments it proposes, Radu Graţian Gheţea also said.
Reporter: How would you describe the first months of this year, in terms of the evolution of the banking system?
Radu Graţian Gheţea: 2013 started off just like the previous years, slower. January is usually not a good month for the banking system. In the first quarter, the banking system was profitable, according to the data published by the National Bank of Romania (NBR). CEC Bank was also profitable in the first three months of the year.
This doesn't mean that we should expect the entire year to be profitable, because the "struggle" with non-performing loans and with the high-levels of provisions which banks a
