Council of Banking Employers in Romania adds new member, controls half of country’s banking assets

Volksbank Romania is the sixth bank to join the Council of Banking Employers in Romania, after ING Bank in the beginning of July. The six banks in the council own about half of total assets in Romania’s banking system, while their employees combined make more than a third of the total hires in the country’s banking sector. Joining the Council “underlines our strong will to tackle new challenges with new ideas, to assume responsibility for the past and the future ways in which banking business shall be made,” said Benoit Catel, the President of Volksbank Romania. Volksbank Romania, with 135 branches and nearly 1,400 employees, had EUR 3 billion in assets. The Council of Banking Employers in Romania is made of ING Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, UniCredit Țiriac Bank, BRD – Groupe Societe Generale and BCR. The board comprises of bankers Steven van Groningen (Raiffeisen Bank), Răsvan Radu (UniCredit Țiriac Bank), Philippe Lhotte (BRD – Groupe Societe Generale), Tomas Spurny (Banca Comerciala Romana BCR), and Michal Szczurek (CEO of ING Bank). The Council of Banking Employers in Romania aims at contributing to increasing confidence in the Romanian banking system and to the economic development of Romania, both as part of the dialogue with the government and trade unions, as well as through raising banking standards as a basis of real consumer protection. editor@romania-insider.com