CEC Bank celebrated on Monday, 150 years since its establishment, originally called the Deposits and Consignments House, later converted in savings bank, owned by the state and subordinated to the Ministry of Public Finances.
“(…) We are honored that nearly three million customers are with us and we invite them to further appeal with confidence to the bank products and services that we hope to stay for at least another 150 years, close to Romanians generations, ” said Radu Gratian Ghetea, President and CEO of CEC Bank, in a press release.
To mark the anniversary moment, CEC Bank launched its first application for tablets and Android and IOS phones users – ‘CEC Palace’, an application by which can be found details about CEC Palace, an architectural monument.
CEC was founded in 1864 – five years after the union of the two Danubian Principalities.
In Communist Romania, CEC created a number of types of accounts, including passbook savings accounts with various combinations of interest and prizes, and opened branches throughout Romania. From 1970 to 1985, CEC made housing loans as well. After the 1989 revolution, CEC began activities such as granting loans to other banks and dealing in government securities. In 1996, Law No. 66 reorganized CEC as a joint-stock company with the Finance Ministry as its sole shareholder. Beginning in 2005, moves were made toward privatization. A 2006 attempt at privatization was cut short when the government was dissatisfied with the bids. The possibility of privatization has been in play as recently as January 2011.