Top bankers change positions

The bankers’ market experienced some changes in the first quarter of this year, with many managers changing positions. In March, a surprise move from the BCR saw Natalita Hurduc, who since last autumn had been vice-president in charge of retail operations, join management team at the Romanian International Bank (RIB) – one of the smallest banks in the system.In October last year, Erste Bank brought Martin Skopek, 39, to replace Natalita Hurduc. He came from a similar position he had held for six years at Ceska Sporitelna – the biggest bank in the Czech Republic, also Austrian owned. During this period, Hurduc was at the helm of the BCR’s Bucharest branch. In fact, Hurduc is not the first head of the BCR to go to the RIB. A similar move was made by Ion Ghica, who after running the BCR and then the CEC (The Romanian Savings Bank) in the 1990s, became chairman of the RIB in early 2000. Another executive to trade a top bank for a small bank is Alina Pascu, from UniCredit who moved to ATE Bank. The most recent acquisition was made by the Turks at Credit Europe (former Finansbank), who got Paul Prodan to head their treasury department as deputy vice-president. He came from the position of executive manager of OTP Bank’s treasury department.