Nicolae Danila Chairman and C.E.O. of Banca Comerciala Romana

Romania’s largest state bank, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), boasted a healthy profit of US$102 million in 2000, the first year of an ambitious five-year business plan that places shareholder earnings at the top of its list of objectives, the bank’s dynamic chairman and CEO, Nicolae Danila, says.

“These profits can only be regarded as a positive result, and a premise for further success in our five-year project as long as we continue to keep our knowledge about the market and our clients fully up to date. Direct contact to the realities of our market is the key to success for every type of business, so I am confident that our own will remain profitable in the future,” Mr. Danila explains.

Like all Romanian banks, the BCR is slated for privatization, probably by end 2002. As the Minister of Privatization, Ovidiu Musetescu, confirms, “the
Romanian government will specifically mention BCR’s privatization in its Letter of Intent to the IMF as a basis for a new stand-by agreement.”
Mr. Danila points out that the government has targeted every sector of economic activity in Romania for privatization, including the whole financial sector. “I am sure that one of the instruments to assist the government in implementing and fulfilling its targets is the banking system, and BCR is the leader in the sector,” he notes.
Mr. Danila’s comments are backed by the country’s Finance Minister, Mihai Tanasescu, who emphasises the role of the World Bank in the privatization process.

“We are currently being advised by the World Bank with regard to finding the most effective mechanism for the privatization of the leading state-owned bank, Banca Comerciala Romana. The project to privatize Banca Agricola is almost completed and we are also preparing to liberalize the country’s savings banks, such as CEC,” explains Mr. Tanasescu.