Rasvan Radu: There were 15 degrees, then it snowed. The same can happen with lending

UniCredit Tiriac Bank will "first of all" go ahead with its organic growth strategy, because there is enough room left on the market by banks that are out of breath or feeling the troubles of their parent companies, states Razvan Radu, the bank's chief executive. "We're devising a strategic plan for the next 3-5 years through which we'll effectively update the old strategy with network expansion to 300 branches. What's certain is that in the new plan growth will rely on other products from what's we'd thought of before the crisis," Radu says. UniCredit in 2009 remained a bank where the corporate segment accounted for most of the business. Will the retail segment grow this year? "We want to see growth on retail, but we'll see on what products and market sub-segments". As regards corporate lending, the banker says the first signs of a "demand thaw-up" are showing, but he is not enthusiastic: "as we meteorologically had a week with temperatures of 15 degrees and then it snowed, I believe we can witness a similar phenomenon on the lending market and it's early to make optimistic projections".