Raiffeisen Bank Romania recorded a 130% increase in investment plans, voluntary pension and life insurance with an accumulation component, as well as record guarantees from the European Investment Fund, which allow financing of more than €650 million for Romanian SMEs in the coming years. We spoke to Mircea Busuiocanu, Vice President of Risk, about the reasons for this growth, how the bank supports the real economy by lending to corporations and SMEs, the steps Raiffeisen has taken to implement artificial intelligence in banking and their investments in projects , which support the environment: “We have financed a lot of green energy, we have financed a lot of energy efficiency projects, because we believe very much in this type of energy production, as well as in reducing consumption as ways to protect the environment,” Mircea Busuiocanu said.

You have seen growth in investment plans, voluntary pensions and life insurance with an accumulation component. How do you explain this strengthening of conditions in which, as you know, Romanians do not save?

Mircea Busuiochanu:I think our world is changing. I think Romanians are changing. I think that the period when Romanians were not concerned about saving was more related to the general economic situation, a certain state of poverty in Romanian society, because culturally, if we also remember sayings from childhood, Romanians have this concept quite well takes root On the one hand, I believe that the growth of incomes and, if we look at the last years, the improvement of the standard of living in Romania is a reality, combined with the informational efforts of the players in the banking industry. , both individually and collectively, through the Association of Romanian Banks, as well as thanks to the efforts of the National Bank and, on the other hand, the increase in the attractiveness of investments in the financial sector as a result of the evolution of the interest curve has led to an increase in interest in this type of product.

Speaking specifically about Raiffeisen Bank, here we still had the combination of elements that led to this evolution: the design of products and services that correspond to this stage of the company’s development, with an emphasis on the part of savings, investment and preparation for retirement, constant communication and information about these options and, not least, efforts to develop the services we offer by upskilling our staff in this product area and equipping them with the necessary technology to support them. And the results were very good. For example, we are very happy that last year every second Romanian who got access to a voluntary pension chose us.

This is a sign of recognition, which we are very happy about. In addition, our asset management company Raiffeisen Asset Management has once again become number two in the mutual fund market, which shows, if you like, the efforts we are making in this direction.

You also had an increase in deposits. Is this due to this crisis of rising inflation or has Raiffeisen changed its approach?

Mircea Busuiochanu: I think the answer, again, is a combination here. Liquidity in the market today is at an all-time high, so growth in affordability in the banking industry has been normal, and Raiffeisen is no exception, for one thing. On the other hand, what we told you earlier about the increase in the attractiveness of savings products compared to the previous period, we think that also affected this topic. And last but not least, this key word for a banker is trust, and the growth of deposits, in fact, shows the trust of our customers, the trust that we strive to earn every day.

What impact did Raiffeisen loans to small and medium-sized enterprises and corporations have on the real economy?

Mircea Busuiochanu: I think that, first of all, here Raiffeisen has always tried to be an active supporter of the real economy since its inception. In this sense, you will find that we have one of the best ratios of loans to total assets, which means that we are good at mobilizing the resources involved in financing the real economy. Our loan portfolio has grown by 25% over the last two years, so that’s fast growth and shows a big contribution to financing the real economy. Strictly speaking about the previous year, we grew by about 8% in the corporate sector and about 7% in the SME sector. And obviously, our desire is to continue on the same path and be one of the most important players. Last year, we retained the third place as a lender to the real sector of the economy, and we are confident that we will be able to contribute further.

We strongly believe in this role of banks in facilitating the financing of the real economy, and therefore our efforts are very much focused in this direction. In this sense, a major achievement last year was the agreement concluded with the European Investment Fund on a new guarantee scheme for small and medium-sized companies according to the European definition, which will further support our efforts in this direction.

Why is it important to support the environment through ESG (Environmental, Social and Government) assets?

Mircea Busuiochanu: Well, back to the basics, and one of them is that one generation should not consume the resources of another generation. The environment has become a very important topic for modern society, and banks, through their role, must translate this public interest into the economy. For us, and if you know our history, we’ve always been on the side of being responsible and with a long-term vision, that kind of focus on environmental issues is very well in our DNA. It somehow happened by itself for us. For example, assets related to the environment, in our case, grew by 75% last year, which is an extremely accelerated trend compared to what we talked about earlier.

We have financed green energy, we have financed a lot of energy efficiency projects, because we believe very much in this type of energy production and also in reducing consumption as a method of protecting the environment. Last year we also had the first issue of sustainable bonds, which marked a new step forward in the introduction of this concept in Romania. We will continue on this journey by informing society about what this transition means from an ESG perspective and directly supporting these efforts.

What is the future of banking in Romania?

Mircea Busuiochanu: From gold, there was a saying. I believe that the banking industry will continue to support Romania’s approach to the economic indicators of Western Europe, I also believe that the trend of concentration of the industry will continue and I believe that digitalization will be a topic that will continue to be on the agenda for banks, I hope that in the near future I will see more and more competition and hopefully more and more satisfied customers.

There is more and more talk about the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy, will we see artificial intelligence in banking from Raiffeisen?

Mircea Busuiochanu: I’m a big fan of artificial intelligence. I strongly believe in the potential that artificial intelligence can bring to an economy like Romania’s. If you like, in all countries with demographic problems, artificial intelligence is the solution to many problems. I believe that artificial intelligence will play an important role in banking. At Raiffeisen, we started investing in this in 2018, so we’re at a pretty good level of maturity today. We already have several cases developed in-house, more than ten, we also work with custom options purchased from various vendors, but we have the desire and opportunity to develop internally, and I think that in the next 3-5 years, progress in this area will be special both in banking and in the real economy, and obviously I am convinced that Raiffeisen will be one of the main players in this area as well.

The article is supported by Raiffeisen Bank Romania

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