Bogdan Pleșuvescu, Deputy CEO at Banca Transilvania, attended the Banking Forum, an event organised by Financial Intelligence, on November 2 in Bucharest. At the conference, he spoke about economic uncertainty, the challenges companies are facing, and the importance of human capital and entrepreneurship education. We have selected a few of his remarks:

On economic uncertainty and the challenges facing companies:

• We are living through a period of genuine uncertainty, whether we refer to the geopolitical backdrop, domestic conditions, taxation or regulation.
  
  
• Against this backdrop, unfortunately, we are seeing more and more companies coming under strain. Initially, problems surfaced among smaller firms, but the effects are now becoming visible at medium-sized and even large companies.
  
  

On lenders’ capabilities in helping companies:

• We need to allocate capital to rescuing these companies as well. I believe that, in the period ahead, at least among lenders, in-house capabilities will make a major difference in such situations. It is about being able to truly distinguish which companies can be saved and where it is worth committing additional funds to their recovery.
  
  
• Equally, we must be able to identify the cases where bankruptcy is the only option left and creditors can recover their claims only by realising the company’s assets. This is an area where I believe a significant upskilling will be needed.
  
  
• When we talk about capital, banks are currently seen almost exclusively as financiers—of the state or of the private sector—or as providers of tax revenues. I see this as a shortcoming. There needs to be a partnership between the state and lenders, and that partnership must work to the benefit of customers.
  
  
• Restructuring and insolvency is an area where lenders will shoulder most of the burden. A company in difficulty that already has a lender has very slim chances of securing working capital from another bank during the turnaround period. As a result, the responsibility most often falls to the bank that is already financing the company.
  
  
• We are having extensive discussions with insolvency practitioners about ways to channel funds to companies in distress. It is essential to ensure that these funds are not used to cover past claims but to finance current operations, so that the company can return to profitability and, subsequently, meet its prior obligations as well. Here we need to work on the mindset of all creditors, the courts and, most importantly, entrepreneurs.
  
  

On human capital and the future of Romania’s economy:

• Romania faces a very large shortfall of human capital. We have negative natural population growth and a worrying unemployment rate among young people under 25. We are importing labour, yet we are not doing enough to engage our young people to work in Romania.
  
  
• Young people with strong skills who cannot find a job in Romania choose to emigrate readily. We are thus witnessing a loss of human capital, while some of those who stay either cannot find a job or are not even looking.
  
  
• This is where entrepreneurs, as well as the state, need to step in. We are already seeing private companies developing vocational schools to secure their workforce in the communities where they operate. We have to work together, because these young people are the future entrepreneurs and the future middle class of Romania.
  
  

On BT’s role in entrepreneurship education:

• Banks have always invested, beyond financing, in entrepreneurship education programmes. Banca Transilvania is known as the bank for entrepreneurs. We have consistently allocated time, resources and platforms to entrepreneurship education, including for young people at the start of their journey, to help shape the next generation of entrepreneurs.