Oana Petrescu, 42, oversaw the rebuilding of BCR’s infrastructure as vice-president of operations and IT from November 2006 through May 2010, managing about 1,500 people and then as head of retail she had over 5,500 subordinates, which include the personnel in the 670 branch network of the bank and other subsidiaries.
BCR announced the departure of Oana Petrescu before the end of last year. She will leave her position as executive vice-president of retail on March 31, 2012, less than two years after being appointed.
“After having concluded the repositioning of the entire retail product range, after having consolidated BCR’s position as the bank of first choice when it comes to mortgage loans and savings, and managed to keep retail profitability at the 2010 level despite the margin decline and economic austerity, I decided it was time I left. My main skills are to identify those areas that need change, to mobilize resources and make decisions, which is what I have done in all these years at BCR. Day to day supervision, especially on a market that is no longer growing does not seem attractive enough any more,” said Petrescu, explaining her decision to leave the bank.
The announcement about her departure took the banking circles by surprise, considering the relatively short period of time since her appointment as head of retail. Not to mention that Andreas Treichl, head of Erste Group, which now owns almost 90% in BCR, had constantly praised Oana Petrescu for her managerial skills. She was among the first changes Erste made to the management of BCR in 2006, along with Martin Skopek, who will replace her as head of retail in April.
Over the last few years, Petrescu has been the only Romanian in the executive board of BCR, which is why she believes it would be ideal to have more Romanians there to improve cooperation and get a more accurate picture of the market. Treichl, too, used to say he would like more Romanians among BCR’s top managers, and kept looking for suitable candidates, even for the chief executive position, but in the end chose another expat, Czech-born Tomas Spurny, who should replace Dominic Bruynseels soon.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)