“We have not noticed any change in terms of intentions to hire for management positions in banks operating on the local market. Furthermore, the number of recruiting projects for middle and top management positions being carried out by our company has not diminished lately,” said Loredana Serfezi, General Manager of the Ray&Berndtson executive search company.

One of the best-known local market executive search specialists, George Butunoiu, concurs. “At present, the banking sector is one of the areas in which we have the most projects. It is true that for the time being companies are much more careful about whom they employ, because they are far more interested in productivity, but we cannot speak of a drop in the number of requests for recruiting for top positions,” added Butunoiu.

Alexandru Talmazan, Managing Partner of the Wrightson executive search firm, does not believe we will witness any layoffs in the banking sector, at least in the near future, in spite of some banks on the local market being in a holding pattern.

George Butunoiu believes there could be layoffs, albeit not in the financial-banking sector, at least not for the time being. “Most of the major projects we have had lately have been in real estate and the banking sector. We recruited country managers in real estate, and soon even a bank director,” added Butunoiu.