Emilian Bituleanu: Libra Bank will focus on growing lending

Reporter: What was the year 2010 like for Libra Bank?

Emilian Bituleanu: Even though 2010 was not a favorable year for the banking sector, as it was influenced by the unstable economic climate, Libra Bank performed well, I would even say very well, successfully consolidating its position in the niche that it operates in. Essentially, we can say that we easily weathered a crisis year, and we were able to keep lending and liquidity under control, without the need for any foreign support and without overdoing it when it comes to rescheduling loan payments. Even on the risk ratios side, which are published periodically by the NBR, we performed within the accepted parameters. We also succeeded in keeping our customers, as well as attracting new ones, especially major ones.

We continued to create new products, and under the slogan "Next Level Internet Banking", we launched the "Access Investigator" product, being the first Romanian bank that launched a product used for online economic and legal investigation, thus streamlining the business decision-making process for our customers.

Reporter: Libra Bank is a bank of liberal professions. Which category of liberal professions used the bank"s financial services the most last year? What are the services which they used?

Emilian Bituleanu: Out of our entire portfolio, the medical sector is the one that constantly gives us very good results, as the "Hippocrates" loan is the most successful niche banking product, with a very good usage rate. Apart from specific products, we periodically host free financial counseling classes for our customers working in the medical sector, we are present at medical events.

Reporter: Which of the liberal professions had the largest number of overdue loans? How do you explain this? What are your expectations for this year?

Emilian Bituleanu: Obviously, there are types of liberal professions that do better and liberal professions that do worse. However, for us, every customer is important and we always try to maintain a certain degree of flexibility, in order to ensure that the solutions for the repayment of loans reflect the real financial means of our customers. What I can say is that our customers in the medical field are performing the best.

Reporter: What was the experience of lending to small and medium enterprises in 2010 (SMEs), in 2010?

Emilian Bituleanu: We paid a lot of attention in 2010 to the SME segment, just like we did before, and we succeeded in meeting the needs of the company by adapting our products. For instance, in the second half of the year we launched "Sconto Credit", a lending product by which they could receive financing based on their invoices to be collected, including foreign invoices, thus insuring a constant cash flow to allow the company to continue its activity under the best circumstances until the payment of the bills. Also, the time required for obtaining a loan has been cut to the minimum, with just three days needed for approval since the submission of the complete documentation. Even though it was newly launched, the "Sconto" loan yielded very good results in a short period of time and has allowed us to post remarkable results even on the large customers segment, among which this product was very well received.

Reporter: What new products and services will Libra Bank bring to the market this year?

Emilian Bituleanu: The expectations for 2011 go towards a sustained increase in the quality of the products and services we provide to our customers. More specifically, we have made it a goal to improve the operations flow to the maximum, meaning that all customers would benefit from the excellent functioning of the Libra Bank system. We also have important news to announce concerning the internet banking system in 2011, which we do not want to disclose for now.

Reporter: What are the plans of Libra Bank for this year? Do you intend to expand your network?

Emilian Bituleanu: We have high expectations for 2011, and our estimates are cautiously optimistic. We want to have a year of growth, to attract large customers and to continue to provide financial solutions perfectly tailored to the needs of our customers.

In 2011, Libra Bank plans to focus on consolidating the products and services it has in its portfolio, by paying special attention to growing lending, in particular for the medium sized companies and liberal professions. We also plan to achieve a higher profit than we did in 2010 by keeping a balanced approach on the risk-management development segment.

Concerning our network, we are planning to open four new branches this year, two in Bucharest and two more in the rest of the country.

Reporter: You recently launched a new online platform, under the Next-Level Internet Banking slogan. What were the reasons behind the idea of expanding the services of the bank to this market segment? What are your expectations for the internet banking service?

Emilian Bituleanu: Indeed, in 2010, Libra Bank relaunched its internet banking service using a new online platform, more efficient and with a modern and accessible interface, under the slogan "Next-Level Internet Banking". The new positioning of the product is supported by the superior services that it offers which turn the Internet Banking service of Libra Bank into a instrument used daily for performing banking operations, while at the same time retaining its basic benefits: security, speed and ease of use.

Concerning our goals, we want to increase the number of the bank"s customers using the internet banking service, as well as increase the value of transactions, which to us are essential for the future evolution of this service.

Reporter: Do you think that if international accounting standards get introduced in Romania, they will better reflect the banks" financial results?

Emilian Bituleanu: There will definitely be a concrete effect of the introduction of the international accounting standards in Romania, with the most important outcome being the fact that it will be possible to compare the performance of Romanian banks and that of other foreign banks.