BCR is expanding its investments in economic, financial and public policy education through a new support program dedicated to students, teachers, researchers and specialists in the financial and banking field. The program is developed in partnership with the Academy of Economic Studies, through the Faculty of Finance, Insurance, Banking and Stock Exchanges (FABBV) and the master’s program Finance and Banking – DOFIN. Founded by university professor Dr. Moisă Altăr, DOFIN has over 30 years of experience and was accredited in 1994 by the European Commission as a European Center of Excellence, under the name Doctoral School of Finance and Banking (DOFIN), following an international competition.

The collaboration between BCR and the master’s program Finance and Banking – DOFIN contributes to the development of an academic and professional ecosystem that can lead, in the long term, to the improvement of the quality of public decisions in the financial and economic field. Such an ecosystem can provide independent expertise, applied analysis, and international learning standards for those who will work in banking, financial markets, regulation, public administration, economic research, or public policy consulting.

Thus, starting with the academic year 2026–2027, BCR will annually award five scholarships for students of the DOFIN master’s program, each with an estimated value of 2,000 lei per month:

· 3 scholarships for outstanding academic performance;

· 1 scholarship for involvement in the administrative activities of the master’s program and the faculty;

· 1 scholarship for relevant extracurricular activities.

Also from the academic year 2026–2027, BCR will award three prizes for the best dissertation papers defended within the DOLPHIN master’s program, amounting to:

· 5,000 lei – First Prize;

· 4,000 lei – Second Prize;

· 3,000 lei – Third Prize.

Through this initiative, BCR supports the training of a new generation of specialists capable of working at the intersection of finance, economics, mathematics, regulation and public policy. This competence is critical for Romania, at a time when the quality of economic decisions directly influences the country’s ability to attract capital, finance investments and develop the infrastructure that supports companies and the well-being of communities.

“In a world where inflation, interest rates, deficits, investment, geopolitics, technology, demography and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, advanced financial and economic education is the infrastructure for prosperity. Romania needs specialists who can understand the laws of economics, interpret data, assess risks, build models, and turn sound analysis into better public and private decisions. Romania needs more advanced economic education, so that it can open relevant economic conversations, and our long-term prosperity needs institutions and specialists of the highest level”, said Sergiu Manea, CEO of BCR and DOLPHIN graduate.

“The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies represents an elite higher education institution in the economic field that has been contributing for over 113 years to the consolidation of advanced financial and economic education, providing the global economy with specialists in finance and banking, with significant skills in the field of digitized banking services, as well as financial advisors who meet the current needs of the market, but also to the future, being trained to deal with the evolution of the financial-banking and insurance markets, in a pro-active spirit, of anticipation and management of change. The Master’s Program in Finance and Banking – DOFIN represents a pole of educational and research excellence in the financial field”, said Prof. Nicolae Istudor, PhD, Rector of ASE Bucharest.

“The Faculty of Finance, Insurance, Banking and Stock Exchanges (FABBV) is the main pillar of academic training in the financial-banking field in Romania and has the mission of training, through bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral study programs, elites in the financial-banking field, stock exchanges and insurance who acquire, during their university studies, skills both in terms of the applicative dimension of business models in the financial-banking and and related to the development of financial strategies at macroeconomic level. The graduates of the master’s program Finance and Banking – DOFIN occupy positions in the middle and top-management of many financial-banking entities at national and international level”, added Prof. Georgiana Camelia Georgescu, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Finance, Insurance, Banks and Stock Exchanges, ASE Bucharest.

“For a modern economy, it is essential that academia, the financial sector, legislators and regulators have access to advanced economic, mathematical and financial skills training. Debates and strategic decisions about interest rates, inflation, lending, deficit, investments, financial stability, taxation or consumer protection must be supported by rigorous analysis, data, econometric models and a deep understanding of market mechanisms”, said Prof. Ciprian Necula, PhD, Director of the DOFIN master’s program.

BCR is also involved in ensuring the training of advanced skills in the economic field and will initiate an internship program for DOFIN students, with the aim of ensuring a greater connection between advanced academic training and the concrete realities of the financial and banking industry. Students will have the opportunity to work alongside specialists in the bank and understand real processes of analysis, risk, markets, data, financial products, regulation and economic strategy.

The program also includes the support of training and continuous professional development courses, supported by teachers and DOLPHIN collaborators, dedicated to BCR specialists, but also to professionals from other financial-banking institutions or from related areas of economic public policies.

BCR also supports DOFIN’s initiatives regarding the invitation of professors, researchers and experts from prestigious international universities and academic centers, within the program’s teaching activities and

applied lectures, built on the basis of international best practices. These interventions will address topics at the frontier of financial research and practice: quantitative finance, capital markets, financial stability, systemic risk, financial macroeconomics, monetary and fiscal policies, economic modeling, the use of artificial intelligence in the financial-banking field, regulation, financial technology and the institutional architecture of modern markets.

“A society that understands the economy better makes better decisions. And an economy that has better decisions becomes more competitive, more resilient and more prosperous. Through this program, BCR invests in people who can carry on a mature economic conversation, based on data, rigor and a deep understanding of the markets,” said Ciprian Dascălu, BCR Chief Economist and DOFIN graduate.

The new initiative complements BCR’s investments in the applied educational infrastructure of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, if we also consider the recently launched BCR Financial Trading Lab, through which students can work with data, tools, simulations and mechanisms specific to the real practice of financial markets. Such investments are important because they transform economic education from a theoretical exercise into an applied experience of understanding the market.

BCR strengthens its role as a partner of economic education in Romania, from financial education programs for the general public, to supporting academic and professional excellence in areas of impact for the future of the economy.