Erste CEO: Nobody can anticipate the rebound timing

“Even in Romania, which has suffered from RON devaluation against the euro by 5% from the late 2008 level, BCR’s operating income remained almost at the level of last year, but net income fell on the rising risk charges,” comments Andreas Trichl, a CEO with Erste Group, which owns 69.3% in the stock of the biggest Romanian bank. BCR group reported 159.1m-euro operating income, from the 162.4m-euro level reached in Q1, 2008, with the almost 12% increase in RON being wiped out by the RON decline. Thus, BCR group’s contribution to Erste Group’s net income shrank by 25m euros from Q1, 2008, at 41.7m euros. “Nobody can say when the economy will start recovering, but we believe we have control over a significant part of earnings and we’ve shown we can control the evolution of costs,” said Treichl.