Radu Craciun, 45, a renowned economic analyst, is set to become chief investment officer at Interamerican Pensii, the specialist unit of Interamerican insurance group, according to market sources.
After working for 10 years at ABN Amro Romania, and analysing the development of the domestic and global financial markets, Craciun will be able to apply his experience to the management of the fund's investment strategy.
Interamerican Pensii required an investment officer after the departure of Emilia Bunea (the former CFO of Interamerican group in Romania), who joined ING Fond de Pensii.
After the first month of sales of mandatory private pensions (pillar II), Interamerican gained almost 70,000 customers, and now ranks fifth among the 18 licensed managers. According to official data, Interamerican in the first month attracted 6.1% of signed customers and for the entire 4-month campaign targets a 10-15% market share.
Interamerican Pensii recently increased its share capital by 13.2 million euros, to 19m euros, and ranks second in the list of the most capitalised management companies on the market. Interamerican stated it also planned to offer voluntary pensions, possibly from the second half of next year.
In his first 3 years at ABN Amro, Craciun worked for the bank's securities unit, where he climbed to the position of head of the research department and over the past 7 years has dealt with the forex and monetary market, as well as macroeconomic analysis and strategy. He did not cover Romania alone, but also countries such as Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.
The main activities associated with a chief investment officer entail keeping an eye on domestic and global markets and making decisions on the best solutions to invest the funds raised.
Craciun could use the credibility he gained as an economic analyst to set Interamerican Pensii's m
