Zdenek Romanek has been authorized by the National Bank of Romania and officially takes over his mandate as President and CEO of Raiffeisen Bank.
In November 2021, following an international selection process, the Austrian group Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) appointed the Czech Zdenek Romanek as CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Romania. Romanek joined the Raiffeisen Bank team on February 1st, 2022 and takes office today, after The National Bank of Romania’s approval. As of this date, Steven van Groningen is ending his term as President and CEO, after 20 years at the helm of the bank.
”I am confident that banks can do much more for their customers if they make extensive use of existing technologies. Romania is an extremely interesting market, on which the Raiffeisen Group has been operating successfully for 25 years, and I am glad to be here and to be able to get involved in positioning Raiffeisen Bank for the future. I am already one month day by day with my new team and for this first stage, I have set myself the goal of understanding as much as possible of all our activities and staying close to the people. I think we need that, especially after these years of pandemics and in the difficult context resulted from the conflict in Ukraine. I thank Steven for all he has done in leading the bank", said Zdenek Romanek, President and CEO of Raiffeisen Bank.
Steven van Groningen joined the Raiffeisen team in 2001, after the Austrian group Raiffeisen took over Banca Agricola, a state-owned bank in the process of restructuring. He led the integration with the local subsidiary of the group and later the transformation of the new bank, from a loss-making into a profitable one. Raiffeisen Bank has been a profitable bank since 2004, including during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
“I am convinced that Zdenek Romanek, together with the management team, will continue the bank's successful path on the local market in the digital age. Personally, it is an emotional moment for both stocktaking and the handover process. I thank the entire team for the most beautiful and exciting 20 years of my career, and I am positive that Raiffeisen's success story will continue”, added Steven van Groningen.
Steven van Groningen's management team has placed Raiffeisen Bank at the top of the local market, mainly through organic growth. In 2013, the bank took over and integrated the retail portfolio of the local Citibank subsidiary. Finally, Steven van Groningen played an important role in the development of local financial-banking organizations, business organizations, but also of social and cultural organizations.
Zdenek Romanek is a banker with over 20 years of experience in financial services (banking, insurance, investment) and management consulting, with a wide international exposure, in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Western Europe, USA or Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong).
For the past six years, he has been a member of the Managing Board and Retail Vice President at Slovenska Sporitelna, where he also coordinated the digital transformation of the bank. At Erste group level, he was involved in the strategy and digital transformation and coordinated the bancassurance activity.
Raiffeisen Bank has 25 years of activity on the Romanian banking market and more than 2.25 million customers, private individuals and companies. The bank has over 4,600 employees, 300 branches throughout the country, 1100 ATMs, 460 multifunctional machines (MFMs) and a network of over 25,800 POS terminals.
