Banca de Economii can recover until March, Victor Bodiu

The president of the Administration Board of Bancii de Economii (BEM) admitted that the situation at the institution is not the best, but assured that all the measures were taken to prevent degradation and the clients and partners shouldn’t get into a panic. In an interview for the paper “Adevarul” Moldova, Victor Bodiu said that Banca de Economii can recover by March, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Regretfully, I inherited an unpleasant situation that was hidden until then. I found out that the former administration of the bank didn’t respect the financial prudence norms when providing loans. I can say that the policy in parts was fraudulent and led to the significant deterioration of the BEM’s portfolio. The Board had to ask the Prosecutor General’s Office, the National Anticorruption Center, and the Ministry of the Interior to investigate these cases so that we are able to recover at least a part of the money given to economic entities illegally and the persons who decided releasing these loans are held accountable,” said Victor Bodiu. He also said that the former administration of the BEM, in the person of Grigori Gacichevici, provided a high number of loans without informing the Administration Board. The transactions were within the limit allowed for the executive body. Thus, the legislation wasn’t violated formally. As to the necessity of privatizing the institution as a solution for remedying the situation, Victor Bodiu said the privatization is always a good option. “A bank is managed well when it has a powerful group behind. It is important that when the central authorities decide to sell, the direct advantages and the development of the sector are taken into account,” he stated. The Board’s president said that they have two priorities for 2013: work with the toxic assets, and development of the bank and its products. The main objective on a short term is to make the bank’s total normative capital fit the norms of the banking system by March, i.e. to increase it to over 200 million lei. The situation at the only financial institution controlled by the states became tense after the publication of reports showing that the BEM in 2012 sustained losses of 313 million lei. According to the reports, the bank’s liquidity at the end of last year was higher than 3.3 billion lei, up 1 billion lei on 2011.