Andreas Treichl, the chief executive of Erste Bank, will also become chairman of BCR's Supervisory Board, once the privatisation transaction is finalised, the head of the Austrian group announced in Vienna yesterday.
Treichl will thus directly supervise the executive team at BCR headed by Nicolae Danila, which indicates how important the project to integrate the largest Romanian bank in the Austrian group really is.
"I will become the chairman of BCR's Supervisory Board as soon as the transaction is completed. Out of the seven Board seats, Erste will have five," Andreas Treichl stated. The others are to be filled by the representatives of the five SIFs, the minority shareholders of Banca Comerciala Romana. The two representatives of the state and those of EBRD and IFC have formally tendered their resignations. The current chairman of this Board, Daniel Daianu will in turn relinquish the position.
As for the date when the transaction will be finalised, Treichl said he was "quite confident" that the formalities would be concluded in September, about three months later than the Austrians had expected. Erste's boss added it was also necessary for Parliament to endorse the normative act enacted by the Government for the privatisation of Banca Comerciala Romana.
"Operations-wise, we are already making progress in our co-operation with BCR's management, despite institutional delays," Andreas Treichl stated. He added the integration process was "ongoing"; he did not expect it would slow down, as the Austrians are trying not to waste any time because of the legal formalities.
Treichl also said that new information about the financial plans for BCR would be revealed in Bucharest on October 9, where Erste Bank's management is scheduled to meet the local analysts during the "capital market days".
The restructuring plans for BCR involve, among