BCR Supervisory Board reshuffles Management Board

Tomáš Spurný is the new CEO of BCR, replacing Dominic Bruynseels whose mandate expires
Bernd Mittermair appointed as CFO replacing Helmuth Hintringer who will return from his assignment
Martin Škopek returns as Board Member responsible for retail business
Management Board enlarged from five to seven members: Sergiu Manea appointed as Board member responsible for Treasury, Capital Markets & Group Large Corporates and Christian Bruckner as Chief Operating Officer

Bucharest, 27.01.2012 - The Supervisory Board of Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) took several decisions regarding the structure of BCR's Management Board (Executive Committee).

The Management Board of BCR will be enlarged from currently five members to seven, by including the position of Chief Operating Officer and a separate position for Treasury, Capital Markets & Group Large Corporates.

The Supervisory Board of BCR has appointed Tomáš Spurný (46) as Chief Executive Officer of BCR, with April 1st, 2012 as targeted date of handover from Dominic Bruynseels, the current CEO whose mandate expires.

Dominic Bruynseels has contributed decisively to the development of the bank and its client base over the last four years. His extensive expertise and technical and managerial skills played a key role in helping BCR tackle the economic and financial crisis successfully. "I would like to thank Dominic for having put his talent and experience to the best use in consolidating BCR's leading market position and for the leadership he demonstrated in efficiently navigating the bank through tough times. He was a very important partner to me and brought a lot to the table in terms of implementing international standards in the most important bank in the country", stated Andreas Treichl, president of the BCR Supervisory Board.

Tomáš Spurný is an internationally experienced banker who, over the last ten years, has been the CEO of several major financial and banking institutions in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, contributing to their success on the local markets. Most recently he was CEO at CIB Bank Hungary, member of the Italian financial group Intesa Sanpaolo. Prior to his banking experience, Mr. Spurný had spent several years with management consultancy McKinsey and Company, advising financial institutions in number of CEE markets.

The position of Chief Financial Officer will be taken over by Bernd Mittermair (43), currently head of Group Performance Management at Erste Group Bank AG. He will succeed Helmuth Hintringer (61) who will return from his assignment following more than 4 decades of an exceptional banking career in CEE.

Bernd Mittermair has joined Erste Group in 1992 developing his career in various positions in Asset-Liability Management, Controlling and Performance Management areas. He is an expert in strategic and operational planning and budgeting process. He has been involved in all major due diligence processes of Erste Group since 1999.

Sergiu Manea (39) is appointed to the newly created position of Board Member responsible for Treasury, Capital Markets & Group Large Corporates. The native Romanian will take over some of the responsibilities that are now with Wolfgang Schoiswohl's business line. Sergiu Manea has over 15 years experience in financial markets, having worked for several international banks such as Citibank, ING, ABN Amro, Bank Austria Creditanstalt. Most recently he acted as managing partner of an independent Austrian asset management and financial advisory services firm, Ithuba Capital.

Martin Skopek, the current management Board Member responsible for retail at Erste Group, will take over the position of Board Member responsible for Retail Business starting April 1st 2012, as already announced. Martin Skopek held this position also during 2006 - 2010 and as such played a key-role in building up the bank's retail business. He will continue to steer Group-wide retail activities and will also remain chairman of the group-wide retail board, apart from assuming this new position.

Christian Bruckner, who has been since 2010 Chief Operating Officer - until now advisor to the board - will become Member of the Management Board.

All appointments are pending approval from the National Bank of Romania.

The other Management Board members are Frank-Michael Beitz, Chief Risk Officer and Wolfgang Schoiswohl, responsible for the Corporate Banking.

"Despite the continued adverse business environment, Romania retains its excellent growth potential and is one of the core markets that Erste Group focuses on. Today's management decisions are preparing us to be an even better partner for the Romanian people and the real economy. We enhanced our management team with internationally experienced bankers that have also CEE roots. I'm confident they will form a team that will steer the bank to achieve growth," stated Andreas Treichl, CEO Erste Group, following today's BCR Supervisory Board meeting that he headed.

The changes in a nutshell:

BCR's management board current new
CEO Dominic Bruynseels Tomáš Spurný
CFO Helmuth Hintringer Bernd Mittermair
CRO Michael Beitz Michael Beitz
Corporate banking Wolfgang Schoiswohl Wolfgang Schoiswohl
Retail Oana Petrescu Martin Škopek
COO --- Christian Bruckner
Treasury, Capital Markets & Group Large Corporates --- Sergiu Manea