PwC returns as auditor of Romania’s largest bank BCR

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been selected the new auditor of the largest local lender BCR, reports local Profit.ro. This is one of the largest contracts on the local audit market, totaling over EUR 1 million. PwC will thus replace EY, the auditor that has worked with the Austrian group Erste, the owner of BCR, in the last ten years. This decision was made at group level in Austria last year. This will have an impact on the entire Erste group, as well as on BCR. In the previous years, PwC was a consultant for Erste for the sale of bad loans packages. It may have to give up these contracts, if it starts working as auditor, to avoid conflict of interest. In the case of BCR, Ernst&YounG (now E&Y) was appointed auditor in 2006, immediately after the bank’s privatization with Erste. The bank had been previously audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers between 2001 and 2003. editor@romania-insider.com