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BUSINESS ARENA - 101st ISSUE
INTERVIEW
CEC BANK POWERS THROUGH With a team strongly committed to modernizing and streamlining its operations, CEC Bank is in a good position to reach its growth goals. In an interview with Business Arena, Bogdan Neacsu, General Manager and President of the bank's Executive Board, outlines some of the strategy behind the bank's positive results and also touches upon some of the current challenges facing the industry. s To what extent was CEC Bank's development strategy affected by the coronavirus pandemic? Twenty-twenty was a complex, challenging year. In spite of that, we managed to grow. CEC Bank recorded an increase in assets of over 25% last year. In the first months of the pandemic, we focused on working around the challenges to business continuity, as financial services are essential and customers still need access to cash and financing. CEC Bank never stopped its lending operations. At the same time, we continued to implement the bank's modernization program. Digitalization and new new technologies play an important role in our strategy. We plan to implement an omni-channel business model, making our services available both in our branch network and online. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new technologies, confirming that we are on the right track and our focus on digitalization has been the right choice. We have already launched online services such as opening of accounts for new customers and personal loan applications, and we will continue to add more products like consumer
loans and SME products to our e-commerce platform. s What challenges is CEC Bank currently facing in the banking market? In Romania, we are facing a gap in terms of financial inclusion: less than six out of 10 people have a bank account, compared to an average of nearly 100% in the European Union. The level of financial inclusion is even lower in rural areas, and a branch network to cover those areas is necessary. There are still many people who don't have an adequate level of financial literacy, and who need advice for more complex products, such as loans. As a state-owned organization, CEC Bank has a responsibility to society to support financial literacy and increase financial inclusion. According to our business plan, CEC Bank will continue to have a large footprint, the largest bank branch network in Romania, with over 1,000 units. At the same time, we continuously monitor consumer behavior, so we have also embarked on a process of digitalization. The challenge that I can see at the moment is keeping up with the technological
