The Austrians at Erste Bank are preparing to appoint a new CEO at BCR - Belgian Dominic Bruynseels, who will replace interim CEO Manfred Wimmer who took over the position in December 2007.
Bruynseels, 48, had been working for British Barclays group since 1980, most recently as CEO of Barclays Africa and Middle East. From the summer of 2005 through the summer of 2007, he also served as executive director and member of the board of ABSA Group, one of the biggest financial groups in South Africa, where Barclays bought a stake of almost 54%. In August 2007, the banker was appointed Senior Executive Director Emerging Markets at Barclays, a position based in Dubai.
Andreas Treichl, Erste Bank CEO, personally handled the selection of candidates for the position of BCR chief executive officer. The search had been going on for months. Treichl told ZF in February that he wanted to find a Romanian banker to take charge of the bank. "BCR's CEO must not only be a very good banker, but much more importantly a famous personality who can interact with the Romanian public. Still, I don't think it would be too much of a problem if a foreigner runs the bank. "
Banking sources later said that Treichl's shortlist included names like Misu Negritoiu and Dan Pascariu, but they were allegedly not interested. Erste's top man eventually chose an expat, Dominic Bruynseels. BCR's future CEO has extensive experience in retail banking, partly gained in Britain, where he started his career at a Barclay's branch.
Bruynseels will be the fourth BCR CEO since the bank's establishment, after Ion Ghica, Nicolae Danila and Manfred Wimmer, who served as interim CEO after Danila's resignation on December 1, 2007. Danila stepped down after seven years at the helm of BCR, one of the reasons he did so being the differences over strategic visions between himself and the Austrians.
Wimmer, Erste's former strategy director and the official in charge of the project to participate in BCR's privatisation, is already supervising the integration of the biggest Romanian bank, but did not want to take over as CEO for a longer term or take on the position of a public figure, preferring to go back to his work in Vienna.
Wimmer's stint at the helm of BCR should therefore end before midyear, when the completion of BCR's integration into Erste is scheduled. Treichl said on Monday that most of the programme had been completed, and BCR could stabilise its market share over the coming months and even start posting growth.
Bruynseels will therefore take the reins of a bank still undergoing restructuring, which also extends to personnel, but at the same time has to cope with an increasingly fierce competition on the market.
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