Company Profile
Established in 1990, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) took over the commercial activities of the National Bank of Romania (NBR). In October 2006, BCR became part of the Erste Bank Group, one of the wellknown largest financial services providers in CEE. Currently, Erste Bank holds almost 70% of BCR shares, the rest being held by five local financial investment companies (almost 30%) and less than 1% by other companies and private individuals.
BCR is today the most important financial services group in Romania, with diversified domestic and international business, being also an outstanding player in leasing, brokerage, asset management and pension fund markets.
BCR as the leading bank in Romania is managing total assets of over EUR 17 billion as of end-2007. The bank has a franchise of almost 600 branches and agencies throughout the country, also providing its customers with Internet banking, phone banking, mobile banking and e-commerce services, at the same time having one of the largest domestic ATM and POS networks. The bank has constantly increased its customer base to approx. 4 million as of end-2007.
Following Romania’s EU accession as of January 1st 2007, BCR provides its customers (SMEs, large corporates, municipalities and other local public authorities), through specialized EU Offices, comprehensive information on the European institutional system and structural funds and assist its customers in taking the necessary steps for accessing EU funds. BCR also provides a wide range of financing/co-financing products, acting as a strategic partner of its customers, sustaining their development.
BCR and CSR
In December 2007, BCR became the first Romanian bank to receive the “J. M. Juran” Quality Award, further to the successful implementation, through the Total Quality Management project, of sound business principles such as focusing on results, customer satisfaction and leadership, by involving both employees and management, developing partnerships and behaving socially responsible.
BCR was among the first companies that succeeded to integrate its commercial activity with the social responsibility concept, being permanently focused on assessing the social and environmental impact of its business. In this regard, BCR took important steps related to the CSR components, as identified by the Guide ISO/WD 26000, among which the bank supports programmes that contribute to climate protection. Furthermore, BCR is constantly committed to manage its impact on the environment and to support initiatives with high environmental benefit. Ever since the establishment of a specialised internal structure in 2004, the bank pays even greater attention to corporate lending related environmental aspects, channelling its funding towards environment friendly businesses and determining corporate customers to comply with the environmental, health and work safety regulations.