THE "ROMANIA'S DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW EUROPEAN FINANCIAL CONTEXT" / IULIAN CHIFU, CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND EARLY WARNING CENTER: "Banks must set up crisis management departments"

The Romanian banking system is resilient, flexible and reliable, but it can face a crisis at any moment, which could affect it even if it did not target it directly, said Iulian Chifu, the president of Conflict Analysis and Early Warning Center.

He explained: "In the current context, I think that it is necessary for banks to set up crisis analysis and management departments. I am not referring only to crises that can affect it directly, financial-banking crises, but to any types of crises that can have unexpected indirect effects on banking institutions. So assume that there is an attack on a bank, in which reality is distorted and manipulated. No bank can withstand an attack, which leads to the depositors' confidence in the institution in question collapses. Banks can defend themselves better if they take prevention measures and if they review early every crisis that appears".

Iulian Chifu claims that a bank must build a very powerful trust component which they inspire to their customers, a strong brand and profile, so that when a crisis appears, it can be managed easily and "shut it down" it quickly.

Mr. Chifu said: "We are speaking about two components: the crisis itself and its real manifestations and the image, the perception of the crisis. In a crisis, perception counts as much as 80%. If banks create their crisis management departments, then they will be much better prepared to counteract the effects of the perception through adequate decisions. The banking institutions have to react quickly in such situations and to manage the public's perception problems correctly, thus benefiting from the confidence and the reputation built in time, through the credibility of the message carriers".

The president of the Conflict Analysis and Early Warning Center claims that effects on the Romanian banking market could appear following new developments of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, following a potential exit of Greece from the Eurozone, as well as a potential IT war, where an alternative reality is deliberately built, through disinformation or distortion.