She believes that, in certain cases, extending the duration of the loan to reduce installments is not the best solution, as it just prolongs the agony.
“We need to move on from the refinancing phase to real lending because banks are the engines of the economy, they finance development needs, especially those of small and medium-sized companies” Petculescu says.
In pre-crisis years, Bancpost got caught in the lending enthusiasm, especially on the retail segment, leading to a quantitative growth on a market with such extremely tight competition.
Quality, however, was affected, believes the bank’s honorary president. “This resulted in significant provisions being set up, so much so that the operating profit was eroded year after year,” she says.
“Bancpost is now a top ten bank, but we constantly feel we could lose this position. The five indicators that can propel us higher or drive us away from the top banks–assets, share capital, adequacy ratio, solvency ratio and liquidity–need to be closely watched at all times by management, and be regularly consolidated,” Petculescu says.
Owned by Greece’s EFG Eurobank, Bancpost ended 2010 at no. 9 in the Romanian banking system, with a 3.94% market share by assets, down almost half a percentage point from 2009.
Petculescu, who served as the lender’s president for thirteen years after Bancpost’s establishment, says management stability is essential for a bank. During her term, Bancpost ranked 5th to 7th, with some fluctuations, and reported a profit.
In the last few years, the bank turned to loss, especially according to Romanian accounting standards, and switched to profit in 2010, but only according to international financial reporting standards (IFRS).
The bank has had four executive presidents over the last five years – George Michelis, who stepped down in late 2006, followed by Manuela Plapcianu, Mihai Bogza and currently Peter Weiss, who took over at the beginning of this year.
Twenty years since its establishment, Bancpost aims to become the third largest bank on the local market over the next decade, the same target it set out to achieve after its privatization was completed by Greece’s EFG in 2003.