BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu had a tradition of working with BCR and ING when it came to his own money, but last year he also opened accounts in lei and in foreign currency with UniCredit Tiriac Bank, transferring a portion of the money from BCR and ING.
He also spent almost 700,000 lei for the downpayment on a loan for an apartment in northern Bucharest. For this apartment, Isarescu also became a client of UniCredit on the lending side, taking out a RON700,000 mortgage loan in 2012. He used to have another apartment in Bucharest, but in 2010 he donated it to his son, Costin Isarescu. Now the governor once again has a home in Bucharest, where he can stay overnight when he doesn’t want to go all the way to his home in Snagov (nearby Bucharest). The Governor has RON421,319 left to pay back on the loan.
According to his wealth statement on June 12 2013, Isarescu has made a downpayment of RON696,742 for the apartment near the Triumphal Arc to which adds the around RON700,000 loan from UniCredit, which means a total amount of around RON1.4 million (EUR317,400) for 127 square meters plus two parking spaces and two terraces. Since this is a loan for a period of just two years, the amount to be repaid on a monthly basis is close to RON30,000 (around EUR6,500).
Isarescu also has accounts with Citibank, but the U.S. bank decided to no longer do business with individual clients in Romania. Citi’s retail clients were given the option of transferring their accounts to Raiffeisen, but it remains to be seen if Isarescu has agreed to move his accounts to the Austrian bank.
First vice-governor of BNR Florin Georgescu has remained loyal to the largest bank on the market, BCR, the only lending institution he works with, and where he has accounts in lei and foreign currency, deposits, savings accounts, and a portfolio of government bonds of RON2.3 million. This year he opened a new account for EUR184,000. In 2004 Georgescu was head of the supervisory board of BCR. He also had shares in the bank, which he exchanged for Erste shares, which he then sold in 2009.
Cristian Popa, deputy governor of BNR, currently at his third term, is also an old client of BCR and of ING, the local branch of the Dutch group by the same name, but last year he set up deposits of EUR10,000 and almost RON80,000 with Intesa Sanpaolo. On the other hand, he liquidated a deposit of EUR5,066 with Bancpost, controlled by the Greek state which bought parent bank Eurobank.
The other deputy governor, Bogdan Olteanu, who joined the BNR’s management team in 2009, has remained a Bancpost client, but cut his portfolio significantly: from a total of around RON979,000 and EUR53,725, he is left with RON22,196, according to his wealth statement. On the other hand, he boosted his deposits with the BRD, where he has almost RON575,000 and nearly EUR53,000.
He also granted in his own name a loan of RON532,860 to Eboda Building company and another RON150,000 loan to Eboda Electronics. He became a shareholder of the two companies, taking stakes of 50% in each. As far as debts are concerned, in 2013 the vicegovernor took out a EUR147,900 loan from the BRD for a building in the Cotroceni area of Bucharest.
Nicolae Danila, former executive president of BCR, who became member of the board of directors of BNR in 2009, has kept his status as a very rich local banker. His favorite banks where he keeps his money are BCR, Banca Transilvania and Italo-Romena. In the past year Danila has significantly cut his BCR portfolio, withdrawing a major deposit of RON17.7 million and another one of RON1,106,299. Danila also has investments of around RON4 million in investment funds and owns 170,000 Erste Group shares, valued at around EUR4.3 million.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)