THE EUROPEAN BANKING UNION CONFERENCE - A DEBATE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ROMANIA / ADRIAN TIMAR, REMARUL 16 FEBRUARIE: "Any modification at the level of the banks affects the business environment"

Any change at the bank level affects the business sector, says Adrian Timar, the administrator of Remarul 16 Februarie. He told us: "The banking system is part of the market. Any change that happens in this sector, concerning regulation, the manner in which loans are granted etc. - because there will be major changes when it comes to the lending model -, will affect the business sector".

The real economy has been heavily affected by the economic and financial crisis, as before the beginning of the recession, the level of risk accepted by banks was a lot lower than it was now, he told us. "Banks are no longer taking the risks that they used to take before, and we, the ones who are part of the economy, are very affected by this, because for the loans that had a maturity of one year, the lending terms have changed from one year to the next. This creates major problems for companies such as Remarul 16 Februarie, which still have the same business model and perhaps even a lower number of customers, in a market that has shrunk".

Banks are currently much more careful when it comes to guarantees, requesting far bigger collateral. As a result, companies no longer have the same capacity of guaranteeing their loans which they used to have in the previous years, which makes them far less attractive to lenders, Adrian Timar said.

He mentioned that 2014 will be "the first better year" after two difficult years of market contraction.

"This year, both on the railroad freight market, as well as in the industry for maintenance and the manufacturing of rolling stock, there will be better operating conditions and more orders. Railroad freight generally has three categories of costs - staff, maintenance and fuel. Over the last 2-3 years, the maintenance side has seen significant drops. But we are currently seeing in the approach of our customers that they are interested in more maintenance and upgrade projects and even in acquiring new rolling stock".

Remarul 16 Februarie, which has as its line of business the maintenance, rebuilding and upgrading of rolling stock, is controlled by businessman Călin Mitică.

The businessman also manages Transferoviar Grup, whose operations include railroad shipping and the maintenance and manufacturing of rolling stock, Transferoviar Călători, which operates in the railroad passenger transportation sector, and the Aiud train car factory, which repairs freight cars.