Ivan Vrhel, CEO Citi Romania: “We are ready for a more connected, more digital post-pandemic world”

“I think we have to recognize that what we went through is not a financial crisis, but a health crisis. The banking system is different around the world, but when you talk about continental Europe and Romania, banks entered in a much better position than in 2008. As a result of that, the banks are a lot more prepared to support the recovery, to support the economy, to support the clients. That’s what I see as one of the key roles of the banks,” Ivan Vrhel, CEO Citi Romania said during the Financial Forum 2021 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Specifically in Romania, the banks and Citi tried to play a much wider role because there are things we need in terms of financial inclusion, education, being part of the communities. This was the core of the strategy for last year. Covid hit our society, as people, as entrepreneurs, but we’ve tried to look at this period as a bridge from what used to be and what was inevitable coming. We don’t see covid as something which fundamentally changed the world. It accelerated the trends which were here before. The partnership between the private and the public sector has fundamentally improved in the last year.

In terms of priorities of the country, Romania has to become more competitive within Europe. We see a trend worldwide which is called insourcing, which is basically the opposite of outsourcing. If it it’s one thing we learned during the pandemic is that you may need some critical processes, critical parts of supply chain closer to your place and this is an opportunity for Romania.

We see this period as one which brings opportunities. For Romania it’s important to work on strategic things like infrastructure, education, healthcare, to become competitive and focused on productivity.

I think the first half of this year is still about managing the health crisis in order to accelerate growth in the second half. Those are probably the two things we need to focus on as a business community to continue to manage the health crisis so we are ready to capture the opportunities in the second half.

The main challenges for us this year are the health situation, protecting the employees. Making sure that we remain a safe institution is one priority. We do see that the value of talent, the value of human capital fundamentally increased during the pandemic.

Another important priority is to serve our clients. In Romania, Citi is a small niche bank, so we have the luxury of talking to clients closely, dealing with their situations, supporting them in their growth plans but also when they go through difficult periods. Obviously, another priority is the digital transformation. Everybody is using the term. It’s not so easy to digitize a 200-year-old institution but it’s one of the key priorities.

When it comes to Romania, we have a great partnership with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, with ministries and the Central Bank.

Most banks in Romania have capital to deploy and are ready to do it. Different industries were hit differently, but I agree that companies probably put on hold the investments and now they see the opportunities to invest. I do expect the investment activity to accelerate, and we’re ready to support our clients. We see an opportunity for local companies, global multinationals to use more funding locally than rely on their parents.

We are cautiously optimistic about the second half of the year, the evolution will depend on the management of the health situation.

BSE has done extremely well to prepare the playground for an expansion. What we see is the state supporting the issuers. The retail access should be incorporated in the capital market as part of the pension reform.

We are ready for a post-pandemic world, a lot more connected, a lot more digital. Client experience, managing talent and data are probably the way forward.

The Diplomat Bucharest organized Financial Forum event in online format, on April 21,2021. The conference joined leaders spearheading digital initiatives in their organizations to offer insights into their digital transformation journey’s in fintech & banking, as well in capital markets and insurance.

The fast evolution of digital in all industries mirrors in the behaviours and innovations brought by banks,  financial institutions to meet the clients’ needs to abstain from overspending, navigate risks, and usually deal with their finances better. FinTech services and products are more and more designed for particular functions inside the financial ecosystem and customization is key to win more clients and portfolios.