Archive for the ‘Legal & Business’ Category

One of my foreign clients wanted to open a bank account for his newly set up company. I suggested the bank I am using, but he chose another one because one of his friends was working there. It is a small Romanian bank which became part of a big international financial group four years ago.

As at least in the beginning the account was to be operated from abroad, one thing my client needed was Internet/electronic banking. I was sure that the bank offers this service, however I was extremely surprised by their answer. They said “Yes, we do have e-banking, but before we give you this we have to see for a couple of months what turnovers you have. If they are big enough, our headquarters may grant you the possibility for using e-banking.”

Incredible, huh? So e-banking was a favor (even if you would anyway have to pay both for set up and maintenance), and the clients getting it could consider themselves blessed. This bank does not consider e-banking a way to offer a better service (so that the client would not waste time on the road for non-cash operations). Or a way to reduce costs (by needing less front office personnel and of course less office space).

What a difference from other banks which offer reduced commisions for the operations done through Internet! I congratuled myself again for using the services of Emporiki Bank (which is now owned by Credit Agricole) which offers me Internet banking free of charge.

Do I have to mention that my client eventually followed my advice and decided to switch the bank?

Cristian Bizau

Bucharest Angel

One of my clients is a Romanian-born Swedish guy who is in the business of software development. We helped him set up a Romanian branch of his Swedish company. Of course, he was astonished of how long and complicated the procedure is (probably because he doesn’t know how it used to be couple of years ago ). He told me that in Sweden one can set up a company simply by filling in some forms over the Internet. He also shown me the registration certificate of his company. What struck me was that it was mentioned not only the date of incorporation, but also the hour - 21:23.

I then realised how much freedom such a system gives you. You have an entreprenorial idea - you can go for it right away, no matter if it is night or day, Monday or Saturday. You do not have to spend much energy and time (a week if you are a Romanian) or money (for a lawyer) to pass the formalities. You can concentrate on creating value through your enterprise.

The Romanian authorities announced three years ago that they will pass a law which will allow the online creation of companies. Couple of month ago they announced that one company managed to be set up via online. This should not be a surprise as the authorities currently are unable even to interconnect the databases of different ministries. This is why the same company taxes have to be declared at 4-5 state institutions.

So my guess is that it will take at least 5 years until the norm will be to use modern means to set up a company in Romania. Until then, I strongly advise you to save time, energy and money by using the knowledge of someone familiar with the system (as opposed to trying to figure out by yourself all the small but important details which can prolong the process for couple of months - no joking!).

Cristian Bizau

Bucharest Angel