Banca Italo Romena will focus on the SME segment

The strategy of the Romanian Italian Bank (BIR) will focus on Romanian and Italian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) alike, and on the network which they interact with (consulting firms and the consulting firms and liberal professions practitioners), the new management team of the bank announced yesterday, on the first meeting with the press since the appointment of the new CEO, Paolo Mariani.

Roberto Broggini, the Sales Manager of Banca Italo Romena, explained: "For the SME sector and for liberal professions, we will launch credit lines for investments and for supporting the day-to-day operations, with advantageous terms, cheap bundles of products and services, Business credit cards and savings products".

Another service which the bank proposes to this category of clients is that of instrumental, auto and real estate leasing, following the takeover of this branch from "Italo Romena Leasing", according to the Sales Manager.

The new CEO said: "We are in Romania not only to support the development of companies which have invested in Romania, but to contribute to economic development as well. We want a more resolute bank, more aggressive, in other words more involved with all the Romanian companies, as well as the Italian ones, which are operating on the territory of the country. We are very determined to achieve this goal".

Paolo Mariani said that, even though they have revised the product portfolio, what really makes the difference is the ability of the employees to listen to the customer and to respond to its needs and requirements.

He went on to say: "Naturally, we won't neglect the segment of individuals, for whom we are remodeling our portfolio of products and services, to tailor it to their expectations".

For individual customers, aside from the lending products for real estate investments and personal needs, the portfolio will be supplemented with a series of products such as credit cards with a grace period and additional facilities, loans for financing medical expenses, in the country and abroad, or for college studies and post-graduate studies, and savings products, the management of the bank said.

Lucio Boato, the head of the Lending Department, said: "The bank will also be present in all the sectors of agriculture and renewable energy, as well as in structural funds. We have also created an office of specialists for the so-called special loans".

The priorities of the bank also include continuing investment in IT systems, which began last year, as well as in the oversight and audit activities through the implementation of applications specifically aimed at getting to know its customers better, said Gheorghe Muntean, the head of the Bucharest Branch.

At the end of 2012, the new management team expects a result which will be similar to last year's, when the consolidated balance sheet was closed slightly above 5 million Euros.