Ghetea, CEC Bank: I can feel client activity rebound

The first quarter of 2010 brought a slight rebound in client activity, and most of the debtors that last year benefitted from instalment payment incentives are back on their feet, says Radu Ghetea, chairman of CEC Bank, the only state-owned top bank. “I can feel there’s a client activity rebound. What I’m most glad about is that an important number of clients that seemed to be sinking, and for which we’ve found restructuring solutions together, are in good health and ready for a comeback,” Ghetea told ZF in an interview. He says that in the case of individuals, cases where debtors that benefited from rescheduling are unable to meet their payment obligations are a “rarity”, while on the corporate segment, these cases are more frequent. CEC Bank in late 2009 held corporate loans worth 4.2bn RON (almost half a billion euros), up almost 45% in RON from December 2008. The volume of loans granted to individuals maintained at 5.2bn RON (the equivalent of 1.2bn euros) in December 2009. “In 2010 we want to have two-digit growth on lending again. But we must first secure deposit growth, because it is the only way we can boost market share,” Ghetea says.