The change of the old team of Ionut Costea, Paul Ichim and Luminita Manolache is said to happen because the terms they were appointed for in 2009 have reached the end.
The government is the majority shareholder of the Eximbank, with more than 95%, while regional investment fund SIF Oltenia (SIF5.RO) owns 3.27% and SIF Banat-Crisana (SIF1.RO), SIF Moldova (SIF2.RO), SIF Transilvania (SIF3.RO) and SIF Muntenia (SIF4.RO) own the rest. Under the circumstances, the appointments to the management of this institution are largely politically decided and the “tradition” was kept this time, as well.
Things have become a bit more complex in the last few years, though. On the one hand, the central bank is very thorough in reviewing the candidacies for the management of the two state-owned banks, CEC Bank and Eximbank, and discourages cutting terms short because of the rotation of parties in power. On the other hand, the management contracts provide sound protection to those in president positions, who are entitled to compensations so high that many government members have been discouraged from deciding changes before the end of the term unless the management performance justifies it.
All Eximbank presidents over the past decade have remained in office until the end of their terms: Mariana Diaconescu (2001-2005), Carmen Radu (2005-2009) and Ionut Costea from 2009 until now.
Costea, the brother in law of Social-Democratic Party (PSD) senator Mircea Geoana, who fell out of favor with his party in 2011 but is on course with making up with the party he had run for about five years, was put at the helm of Eximbank in first half of 2009. Back then PSD was part of the government with the Democratic-Liberal Party (PDL).
PSD is still in power today, but the current prime minister, Victor Ponta, who is also the party chairman, decided to replace Ionut Costea with Traian Halalai, 42, deputy general manager and chief financial officer of Banca Romaneasca, the local branch of the Greece’s NBG since 2006.
Ponta agreed to keep only Paul Ichim as vice-president, while Luminita Manolache will leave at the same time as Costea. He brought her to Eximbank from Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte where they had worked together for a number of years.
Manolache’s VP position should go to Mihai Mandres, 45, who worked for ING for several years and was chief FX dealer at some point and then left for Eximbank.
All the three candidates for the new management team of Eximbank have worked for ING at some point in their careers and they all have financial markets and treasury experience.
The position of Eximbank president comes with a salary package (about EUR22,000 in net amount) that could make those who work in private banks turn green with envy and has been a reason for political feuds over the last few years. In all likelihood, the change of president will not also entail a modification of the salary to tie it to the size and performance of the bank.
Eximbank is a small bank, barely over 1% in market share by assets but can play an important role in providing support to exporters or companies in need of guarantees to be able to borrow money from commercial banks.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)