RBS Bank: A five-year strategy is not even worth as much as the paper it is written on

2011 will be a year of investments with RBS Romania, as the bank needs to rebuild its image of a player dedicated to premium clients, but also resume asset growth, says Johan Gabriels, the bank’s CEO.
In the absence of major investments, the bank made savings, and this reflected in profit: gains rose to 150m lei (36m euros) last year, above expectations. The entire profit is most likely be capitalised, to support investments planned for this year.
“We rank 13 in terms of assets. We cannot be BCR, or BRD, but we have to stand out and the only path I can see is through services quality. We won’t open 300 branches, but we’ll be better on Internet banking or mobile banking,” said Gabriels, 35, in an interview with ZF.
Even though he is upbeat about the trend of economy, Gabriels remains cautious. “We’ll have a two-year plan. If you draw up a five-year strategy, it won’t even be worth as much as the paper it is written on. The market is unpredictable, a lot can happen”.