Seven expats and three Romanians run the top ten largest lenders in Romania. The ten bankers listed below control assets worth over EUR 64 billion, or around 80% of the Romanian banking sector.

*CEOs' pictures at the end of the article.

• BCR - Tomas Spurny, CEO

Czech Tomas Spurny has been CEO of Banca Comerciala Romana BCR since 2012. Before that, between 2009 and 2012, he was CEO and member of the Board of Directors at CIB Bank – Intesa SanPaolo Bank in Budapest, Hungary. He holds a BA in accounting and finance from the New York University in the US, graduated an MBA program at the Columbia University, New York, USA and completed an executive education training at Harvard Business School. His LinkedIn profile here.

BCR is the largest bank in Romania. Its majority shareholder is Austrian Erste. In the first half of 2014, the bank posted losses of EUR 61.9 million, compared to a net profit of EUR 127 million in the same period of 2013 The negative result was due to larger provisions for non-performing loans (NPL). Its assets declined by 5.1% in the first six months of last year, to EUR 14.6 billion.

• BRD – Philippe Lhotte, CEO

Philippe Lhotte took over as BRD – Groupe Societe Generale’s CEO on October 31, 2012. He previously ran Societe Generale Expressbank in Bulgaria for seven years. Between 1994 and 1997, Lhotte was deputy director of Saint Germain-en-Laye group, and then regional director of Group Herault between 1998 and 2004. Bachelor of Law at the University Paris 2 and diplomat of the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, Lhotte is also chairman of BRD’s Board of Directors. His LinkedIn profile here .

Romania’s second largest lender BRD is part of French group Societe Generale. The bank registered a net profit of EUR 9.7 million last year, compared to losses of EUR 87 million in 2013. The improved profitability was mainly due to lower risk costs.

• Banca Transilvania – Omer Tetik, CEO

Turkish Omer Tetik took over asCEO at Banca Transilvania in June 2013. He had previously worked with Credit Europe Bank since 2000, when the bank was called Finansbank. He was the CEO of Credit Europe Bank Romania between November 2010 and May 2013. Tetik graduated the Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi in Ankara with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in economics in 1996. More about him on his LinkedIn profile here.

Banca Transilvania is the third largest bank in Romania by assets. In 2014, the lender increased its net profit by 19.5%, in 2014, to over EUR 100 million. At the end of 2014, the bank’s total assets reached EUR 7.94 billion (RON 35.6 billion).

• UniCredit Tiriac Bank – Rasvan Radu, CEO

Rasvan Radu is a Romanian born in Bucharest, and has been the CEO of UniCredit Tiriac Bank since 2007. His experience in the banking sector started in 1991 within Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), where he had several responsibilities and coordinated the Corporate Finance and Capital Markets divisions. He also worked with CEC Bank and Raiffeisen Bank Romania. In 2005, he was appointed CEO of UniCredit Romania, while two years later, in 2007, he took over as CEO of UniCredit Tiriac Bank.

He holds a degree in engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and a BA in economics from the Romanian-American University. He also graduated an MBA program at the Romanian subsidiary of Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers Paris and the advanced management program within Harvard Business School. LinkedIn profile here .

Local lender UniCredit Tiriac Bank ended 2014 with a net profit of EUR 18 million, up 7% over the previous year. Meanwhile, the total operating income dropped by 2.1% to EUR 293.4 million.

• Raiffeisen Bank – Steven van Groningen, CEO

Dutchman Steven van Groningen has been president and CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Romania since 2002. He held top management positions in subsidiaries of Western-European banks in Romania, Hungary and Russia. Besides running one of the largest banks in Romania, he also writes for his personal blog stevenvangroningen.eu.  He is also a member of the Foreign Investors Council’s Board of Directors. Steven Van Groningen graduated from Leyden University in The Netherlands, majoring in Corporate Law. His LinkedIn profile here.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania, part of Austrian group Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), posted a net profit of EUR 79 million in the first nine months of 2014, 8% lower year-on-year. The bank’s assets totaled EUR 5.96 billion at the end of September last year.

• CEC Bank – Radu Ghetea, CEO

Radu Ghetea is one of the most well-known Romanian bankers, CEO of Romanian lender CEC Bank. He has been president of the bank since 2007, the year when the lender’s shareholder – the Romanian state - approved the “CEC Development Strategy for 2007–2011". That is when the old Consignments, Deposits and Savings House started turning into the commercial bank CEC Bank. He started his career at the Computer Station of the Banking Financial System and then moved to the Romanian Exterior Commerce Bank (B.R.C.E.) where he held several positions. He also worked with Alpha Bank Romania. His LinkedIn profile is here.

CEC Bank posted a gross profit of around EUR 12.4 million in 2013, well above the level in 2012, of some EUR 7.4 million. Its assets reached some EUR 6 billion at the end of 2013.

• ING Bank - Michal Szczurek, CEO

Polish Michal Szczurek has been running ING Bank in Romania from the position of CEO since September 2012. He previously worked in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was head of retail banking at ING/TMB Bank. Between 2004 and 2009, Szczurek was the head of retail banking at ING Bank Slaski Poland. He holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in economics from the University of Warsaw, Poland, and a Master of Science (MS) degree in computer science from Politechnika Warszawska. His LinkedIn profile here.

ING Bank Romania is part of Dutch ING Group. ING Bank Romania posted a pretax profit of RON 216 million (some EUR 48 million) in 2013, down 7 percent year-on-year. The bank’s assets went up 11 percent to some RON 18 billion (EUR 4 billion).

• Alpha Bank - Sergiu Oprescu, CEO

Sergiu Oprescu has been the CEO of Alpha Bank Romania since 2007. Before that, he was the lender’s executive retail vicepresident. He graduated the Polytechnic University in Bucharest in 1987. LinkedIn profile here.

Greek lender Alpha Bank reported a profit of EUR 1.4 million in Romania in the first quarter of 2014, compared to loss reported in the same period of 2013.

• Bancpost - George Georgakopoulos, CEO

George Georgakopoulos is the CEO of Bancpost and Country CEO for Romania of Eurobank Group. He has been living in Romania with his family since April 2008 and held positions of Senior Executive Director and Executive Vice-President with Bancpost. Before that, he worked for 13 years at Barclays Group. He worked in corporate strategy, project management, business development and general management in several banking areas such as retail banking, wealth management, cash management and consumer finance. Georgakopoulos studied law in Athens and holds an MBA from the University of Glasgow. He also took executive training at INSEAD, IMD and London Business School. LinkedIn profile here.

Bancpost recorded losses of EUR 30 million, in 2013, 2.5 times higher compared to 2012. The bank’s assets were EUR 2.68 billion, at the end of 2013.

• Volksbank Romania – Benoit Catel, CEO

Benoit Catel took over as CEO of Volksbank Romania in 2012. He has an experience of over 20 years in the banking industry.  Before being appointed CEO of Volksbank Romania, Catel led French BPCE group’s branch in Reunion.

In December last year, Banca Transilvania has signed an agreement to buy 100% of Volksbank Romania. The value of the transaction was not made public.