Rumours swarm on the Romanian banking market

For several weeks, the Romanian banking market has been invaded by rumours saying that the management of the most powerful Romanian bank (Banca Comerciala Romana-Romanian Commercial Bank) is about to be replaced.

According to the same rumours, the most likely person to replace Nicolae Danila as chairman of the bank is Dan Pascariu, chairman of Bank Austria Creditanstalt Romania and vice-president of the Romanian Association of Banks.

After ascending to power, every new government wants its own trusted people to take the reins of important state institutions.

However, Dan Pascariu denies all the rumours that made their way in the banking community regarding his possible takeover of Romanian Commercial Bank management.

“No one has contacted me for taking over BCR management and I am not even interested in this position. Moreover, I don’t see why BCR management should be changed now, when the bank is undergoing the privatisation process,” Dan Pascariu told Ziarul Financiar.

BCR sources claim that the above-mentioned rumours are completely ungrounded, as the bank’s chairman Nicolae Danila benefits from the support of very high officials.

Both Nicolae Danila and Dan Pascariu exert a great deal of influence in the Romanian banking system, as they have strong connections in the political milieus as well.

Any change will be interpreted as a political decision, especially since the Romanian Commercial Bank is a banking institution of national interest.

On the other hand, Privatisation minister Ovidiu Musetescu told Ziarul Financiar that BCR will be facing other problems. “First we must complete Banca Agricola (Agricultural Bank-BA) privatisation and only then we shall get started with BCR,” Musetescu says.

So far, the governing party has operated only one change in the management of state-owned banks, namely the appointment of Mariana Diaconescu at the helm of Eximbank.

No modifications have affected the management teams of the other banks – the National Bank of Romania (NBR), the Agricultural Bank (BA), the Savings Bank (CEC) and the Romanian Commercial Bank.