Erste invested €200 million in “the new” BCR

According to company officials, the new image provides the bank with a solid position on the market and strengthens the public perception of it as part of the Erste Bank Group. 

About €200 million were invested in the IDP, which included all bank segments, from corporate and retail to IT and human resources, said the Communication Manager, Corneliu Cojocaru.

BCR adopted the Austrian bank pattern, by dividing the customers efficiently, coming up with solutions dedicated to developing business, and having a creative, innovative, flexible, and continuously-improving product and service portfolio, according to a bank statement.

Moreover, BCR has completely separated its retail activities from its corporate ones and centralized risk management and back-office operations in its branch network.

“We made a very important step, a historical one I might say, in BCR’s transformation process. I am confident that our clients will very soon realize the benefits of this substantial improvement in BCR’s activity,” said BCR’s CEO, Nicolae Danila.
The lender posted €139.5 million worth of net profit in the first quarter of 2007, 21.4 percent higher year-on-year, thus reaching  the highest level in the history of BCR Group. BCR’s market share was of 26.3 percent at the beginning of 2007, according data from the National Bank of Romania (BNR), compared to the 16 percent market share of its main competitor, BRD Groupe Societe Generale.