THE FIGHT BETWEEN BASESCU AND PONTA LEAVES VICTImS IN ITS WAKE Mucibabici to replace Gheţea as CEO of CEC Bank?

The public disagreement between president Traian Băsescu and prime minister Victor Ponta concerning the acquisition of a plot of land in the county of Călăraşi by one of the daughters of the president seems to be causing collateral damage, namely Radu Graţian Gheţea, the CEO of CEC Bank, the lender from which Ioana Băsescu took out the loan she used to make the purchase.

Thus, after the Minister of Public Finance, Daniel Chiţoiu, said, on Tuesday, that Traian Băsescu called him on October 17th to "plead with him" not to replace Radu Gheţea as the CEO of CEC Bank, and the spokesperson of the president yesterday responded that the intervention was only intended as a warning about the risk of affecting the public's trust in the domestic banking system, government and banking sources told us that the authorities are considering replacing the CEO of CEC Bank.

The person that is expected to take over the management of CEC Bank, the fourth largest bank in Romania, in terms of assets, is George Mucibabici, the president of Deloitte România, according to some people close to the talks.

George Mucibabici worked for over 15 years in Romanian and foreign financial and banking institutions, holding positions of first vice-president and CEO of Banca Comerciala Ţiriac, CEO of the Department of Loan and Currency Operations of the National Bank of Romania, where he also served as a member of the Committee of Monetary Policy and a representative of the Common Coordination Committee of the Ministry of Public Finance (MFP), according to information available on the Deloitte România website. He also worked for two years at the IMF, as a member of the Board of Directors, and as advisor to the Executive Director for Holland, Ukraine, Romania, Israel, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Cyprus, Armenia and Georgia. Between 2003 and 2004, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Romanian Credit Council.

Another name being discussed in the banking sector as a potential candidate for the position of CEO of CEC Bank is that of Dan Sandu, the executive president of Nextebank (the former MKB Romexterra Bank). He is also a member on the Supervisory Board of Transelectrica.

Dan Sandu also has over 20 years of experience in the banking system, during which time he worked at the NBR as chief-arbitrageur and the head of the Department for the Management of the International Reserves and Market Operations, Citibank România, as chief dealer, treasurer, head of the Commercial Banking department and member on the Board of Directors of Millennium Bank, where he also worked as deputy CEO, and at Bank Handlowy w Warszavie of Poland, where he worked as head of the Consumer Banking division, according to his resume posted on the website of Transelectrica.

The NBR isn't too enthusiastic about this nomination, as its officials are apparently displeased with the fact that Dan Sandu has been unable to make Nextebank profitable since he took over its management in October 2009, banking sources said.

At the end of September, BURSA wrote that there were rumors making the rounds in the banking market that Radu Graţian Gheţea could step down as CEO of CEC Bank. At the time, he said that he intended to complete his term, which expires in 2015.

On Tuesday night, Daniel Chiţoiu said that president Traian Băsescu called him to "plead with him" not to replace president Radu Gheţea. "Yes, he did call me, but not now, it was two or three weeks ago, as there are talks about amending the bylaws of CEC Banks", he said. "I think that Mr. Gheţea quickly ran hat in hand to president Băsescu to ask for his help and have the president help him keep his job in the event the management system at CEC Bank gets changed", the minister of Public Finance said. "He pleaded...", Daniel Chiţoiu said, who also said that he told the president that, when the decision to amend the bylaws of CEC Bank gets made, the performance of the bank's management will be assessed.

"If he did a good job, he will keep his position, if he didn't, he won't", the minister said.

Prime-minister Victor Ponta said that he was informed of this talk and that the president called a minister to "intercede" for a bank CEO.

The spokesman of president Traian Băsescu, Bogdan Oprea, replied that the intervention of the president was constitutional. He explained: "Romanian president, Traian Băsescu, confirms that he had a talk with the minister of Public Finance, Mr. Daniel Chiţoiu on October 17th, 2013 at around 15:30. In that conversation, president Traian warned minister Daniel Chiţoiu not to replace the president of CEC Bank, Mr. Radu-Graţian Gheţea, before the expiration of his term. The reasons given by president Traian Băsescu were the following: (1) - the term of Mr. Radu-Graţian Gheţea as the head of CEC Bank expires in 2014, and terminating it without any valid reason would weaken confidence in the bank; (2) - Mr. Radu-Graţian Gheţea currently also holds the position of president of the Board of Directors of the Romanian Banking Association, which is reserved exclusively for bank CEOs". Bogdan Oprea also said that considering the replacement of the management of Eximbank based on "political criteria", Traian Băsescu warned Daniel Chiţoiu that Radu-Graţian Gheţea being replaced "without any justification and once again based on political criteria", would create lack of faith in the Romanian banking system.