Treichl, Erste head: I regret we have just one Romanian banker in BCR board

Oana Petrescu, 41, BCR's current retail and private banking executive vice-president, is the only Romanian-born top manager part of the management team of the biggest domestic bank. Austria's Erste brought her in the autumn of 2006 on the position of vice-president of operations shortly after it took effective control over the bank.

This was one of the first two changes operated at the level of the board beside the appointment of Czech-born Martin Skopek at the head of retail. Starting July 1, Oana Petrescu has been in charge of retail, after Skopek was transferred to the Vienna board of Erste Group. "I regret we do not have more Romanians in BCR board and I wish things change in time. Particularly for retail, it is very difficult to find an experienced banker in Romania, but Oana Petrescu is a very good, efficient manager and I am confident she will do some good work," comments Andreas Treichl, a CEO with Erste Group and BCR supervisory board chairman. "What's worse is that there are more very good Romanian bankers abroad than in Romania, but it is almost impossible to persuade them to come back, especially given how things have been going lately. I believe, though, that in 10 years at most many will be feeling motivated to come and work at home," says Treichl.