Raiffeisen Bank has officially opened its Brasov Operational Center located on the former Tractorul platform, at Coresi Business Park.

Its development beginning in early 2012, the operational center has an area of 3,500 sqm and a total of 600 people are currently working in its four departments.

“Some of the employees were relocated from the headquarters in Bucharest (namely six percent), while the rest were directly hired from Brasov,” reads a statement of the bank.

During 2012 and 2013, some of the bank’s operational activities were transferred to the new operational center in Brasov, such as transaction processing, specific call center activities, analysis and management of individual loans and collecting loans.

“This move allowed us to reevaluate processes, to simplify and standardize the activities that have been relocated to Brasov. On long term, this means lower costs for the bank and increased efficiency per employee,” said Carl Rossey, Vice-President Operations and IT.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania ended the first half of the year with a net profit of EUR 60 million, up 20 percent over the same period last year, according to the bank. In H1 2012, the bank’s net profit was EUR 50 million.

Also, the bank’s total assets slightly decreased from EUR 5.64 billion in the first six months in 2012, to EUR 5.59 billion in the first half of 2013, while total loans increased 6 percent year-on-year, to EUR 3.6 billion.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com