The Board of Banca Tiriac, which met yesterday, has decided to bring onboard Selcuk Saldirak, chief executive officer (CEO) of UniCredit Romania.
"Mr. Selcuk Saldirak will fill the position of chairman of the Board as of September," Banca Tiriac said yesterday. George Mucibabici, who has been the interim president of the bank since last August, when Anthony van der Heijden left, will remain senior vice-president of the Board.
Selcuk Saldirak has been working in the Romanian banking system since 1997, when he was appointed president of the local subsidiary of the Turkish bank Demirbank. He practically built the bank from the ground up. In September 2001, the bank was bought by Italy's powerful UniCredito group.
Although not a particularly high-profile player, Saldirak is acknowledged in the banking circles as a good banker, a "survivor" of the banking system's transition and development stage.
Businessman Ion Tiriac, the main shareholder of the bank, had been in talks with two foreign investors - the German HVB group and Greece's Piraeus Bank - to form a partnership. Eventually, Tiriac decided against selling the bank, estimating that its value will greatly increase in the next few years, as the Romanian economy is also expected to develop.
Banca Tiriac is among the top ten banks in the system, with assets amounting to 22,000 billion ROL (545 million euros) in the first half of the year, up about 2,500 billion ROL from the corresponding period last year.
The bank furthermore posted an operating income worth 725 billion ROL (18 million euros) in the first half, up 24% from the same period last year. At the same time, the bank's equity stood at 3,083 billion ROL (76 million euros).
Banca Tiriac logged 800 billion ROL in profit last year, 2.5 times higher than in the previous year. The bank held 3% of the total banking assets.
Banca Tiriac has more than 50 subsidiaries, agencies and branches, 200 ATMs and more than 1,000 POSs. In April, the bank announced an upcoming 207bn ROL (5 million euros) capital increase, through contributions in cash from shareholders, to sustain the investment plan for the coming period.
The bank's plans for this year include the launch of new products and services aimed at both the retail and corporate segment, such as mortgage credit and financial leasing operations, credit cards, Internet banking and mobile banking.
In early July, Banca Tiriac signed an agreement with a Dutch financial institution - The Netherlandens Development Finance Company FMO - to open a long-term credit line worth 10 million euros. The funds will be used to increase the volume of home-loans granted by the bank.
Tiriac Holdings owns 73.61% in the bank. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) owns a 5.43% stake, with other natural and legal persons, both Romanian and foreign, controlling 20.96%.
razvan.voican@zf.ro
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