CEC privatisation delayed until 2004

CEC (Savings Banks) privatisation was postponed until 2004, against 2001 as initially settled in the PSAL agreement. Meanwhile, CEC will undertake a vast restructuring and upgrading programme, as its current structure is outdated and the IT system alone requires $10m in investments.

“CEC privatisation was initially scheduled for 2001, but then it was postponed until 2004. The restructuring programme aimed at privatisation is estimated to last for around eighteen months, the necessary funds – around two million euros – coming from non-reimbursable Phare sources,” CEC vice-president Enache Jiru told Ziarul Financiar.

CEC privatisation is a disputed issue, having stirred many contradicting opinions. The vice-president stated that, when the new management team took over CEC, in the middle of FNI scandal, they found out that the IT system and the operational and data flows were outdated.

“The IT system was almost lacking, the operational flow was carried on mainly manually, which triggered rather high costs, and the data flow was very slow,” Jiru stated. He added that the main goal of the new management team was to upgrade CEC (by maintaining the network, but reorganising the data flow), to focus on banking activities and not ultimately to urge a firm orientation towards retailing and public relations.

Implicitly, the new management team also eyes personnel downsizing, but Jiru failed to mention any exact figures. “We will not give up our tradition, we will focus on attracting as many clients-natural persons as possible, but we will also eye SMEs ,” CEC official stated.