Investment of 30 million euros over the next three years, efficiency-oriented reorganisation of the bank's network of branches, staff training in closer customer relations, refreshing of the bank's image and a modern IT infrastructure; all of these should propel Bancpost to third position on the Romanian market within five years' time, in line with the policy embraced by the bank's majority shareholder, the Greek Eurobank group.
"We want to be in the top 3 and we have the means to achieve this. Retail will be our top priority and we will increase our market share by exploiting the bank's good reputation, preparing a real sales force and by optimising our territorial presence through our branches," George Michelis, Bancpost general manager, told Ziarul Financiar.
The process will start with a gradual changing of the bank's image: a new logo, new central headquarters, renovation of branches, and a reorganisation of the entire network of 162 branches.
"At the moment, the total number of locations is sufficient, but we will carry out some repositioning. For instance, we are under-represented in Bucharest, where we will open additional branches, while in certain rural areas there are some superfluous locations," explained Michelis.
Bancpost is planning to expand its presence in cities like Timisoara and Constanta. Beside developing the bank's activities, the Greek shareholder is also rushing to make operational the related financial services: by the end of this year, a leasing company will become operational, and in 2005 Bancpost group will also include a stock market brokerage company and a fund management company.
Given the still strong appetite of the market for euro and dollar-denominated credits, Bancpost plans to launch a foreign currency-denominated bond issue in the near future.
Mortgages will also become a "strategic" product of the bank, which the bank intends to achieve with new financing from EBRD, apart from the 20 million euros contracted in 2003.
"This is not a pie of a certain size from which we should take a slice; it is a growing pie, and we should be ready to take advantage of these dynamics," said George Michelis, when speaking about the potential in the Romanian banking market. In terms of cards, Bancpost has a portfolio of about one million. Michelis believes many debit cards, which account for the majority of the cards, will be converted into credit cards.
The bank is now planning a reassessment of certain services it offers, such as the payment of pensions or settling of landline telephone bills, as the bank is no longer willing to see its branches overcrowded by such activities, unless it can derive appropriate gains.
"We need to see whether it is worth keeping up these services," said Michelis.
razvan.voican@zf.ro
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