New head of Bancpost wants growth on corporate segment

Bancpost will become a stronger player on the corporate banking segment, to match its performance on the retail segment, says Peter Weiss, appointed as CEO of the bank controlled by the Greek at Eurobank.

“One of my targets is for Bancpost to be stronger on the corporate segment. We will try to balance the structure of our business between corporate and retail, which is still preponderant,” says the banker who for four years ran RBS Romania, one of the best-performing banks on the Romanian market on the corporate segment.

Officially announced in December as the designated CEO of Bancpost, Weiss is set to be interviewed at the NBR on Friday in order to be approved as CEO. As a rule, things can go fast for bankers who have already been authorised in the past.

How big is the challenge facing the executive management of a top-ten bank posting losses according to local accounting standards?

“I think today it has become a challenge to run any bank in Romania to some extent or other. I have been gone for a year and a half, but I can say the market has changed a lot.”

Nine months into 2010, Bancpost had accumulated 220 million RON (52 million euros) in losses, according to Romanian accounting standards, amid 12.8 billion RON (3 billion euros) in assets.