NICOLAE CINTEZĂ, THE NATIONAL BANK OF ROMANIA: "Sergiu Manea does not have to submit paperwork with the NBR for the position of CEO of BCR"

Sergiu Manea, who has, since October 1st the position of CEO of the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), does not have to file documentation with the National Bank of Romania (NBR) to get the approval of the central bank, said Nicolae Cinteză, the head of the Oversight Division of the NBR.

He told us: "Mr. Manea has received the license of the NBR the moment he got hired at BCR. Now, all it takes is a notification. That is the standard procedure, which stipulates that if his job description changes, he has to go through an interview with the National Bank".

Former vice-president for Corporate Banking and Capital Markets, Sergiu Manea follows Tomas Spurny, who left the position of CEO at the end of September, to follow other professional opportunities. Tomas Spurny has fulfilled the responsibilities of CEO over the last three and a half years, with a mandate to manage a large scale restructuring and financial turnaround of the bank.

Market sources told us several times that this year Tomas Spurny would lead the management of the BSE, because he is a restructuring manager, and Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Group, now wants a manager for growth.

Shortly before leaving the bank, Spurny left a message that was interesting at the very least, starting off from the idea that the whole industry relies on trust and conviction: "I don't think we have made legal mistakes, but we have made moral mistakes. I think that people who aren't happy with the bank, are getting today a completely different treatment from the one they were getting in the past".

He warned that there is a need for a change in the way the relationship between the bank and customers works: "If you go into a bank and you are not a mathematician, nor a financial expert, you will be faced with many terms that won't have any meaning to you; we need to clearly emphasize the risks that people can face when they are doing business with us". Tomas Spurny also said that the banks' mission is to buy risk and to sell trust.