Manea, 60, was first appointed chief executive early in 2007, when the bank changed its name from Mindbank to ATE Bank Romania to show Greek owners had taken control. Manea had been vice-president of the first private bank licensed by the central bank (BNR) after 1989, which he had held from 1995 through 2007.
In 2010, ATE put Greek Sotiris Skandamis in charge of the local branch and Manea was his first deputy chief executive. Prior to 1990, Sergiu Manea had worked for the former Banca de Investitii (Investment Bank), which became part of the today’ BRD. Other executives in Manea’s team include Alina Pascu and Epaminondas Papanikolau.
Alina Pascu worked for ATE from March 2007 through February 2011 and then took the reins of Banca Feroviara only to return to ATE after several months.
The local subsidiary of the ATE group was put up for sale early this year as part of the restructuring program of the parent bank approved by the European Commission.
Deloitte was hired as a consultant for the sale but the market is very difficult at the moment and a buyer is hard to find. ATE Bank Romania posted more than 160 million lei (EUR36 million) in losses by Romanian accounting standards last year. The Greek owner continued to support the local subsidiary with capital and came up with EUR20 million in December 2011. The Greek group owns 93.27% in it after buying International Finance Corporation’s stake. UCECOM, one of the founders, still owns 3.83% in the bank and a number of individuals own over 2% together. (EUR1=RON 4.4642)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)