CEO Marwin Ramcke: „I'm in the right place!“

One year ago, Marwin Ramcke took the CEO position at the EOS Group. What were those first 12 months like for him and what ware the highlights? A look back gives insight. 

I still remember the exact moment when I got the position. I've been an EOS person through and through since I started in the Group 16 years ago as a consultant for the Eastern Europe region. I felt I was in the right place right from the start: I liked the people, the culture, the performance. Becoming CEO is a dream come true. That's why the feeling of gratitude and joy was predominant at first. And then, of course, I had tons of ideas about how I wanted to lead the Group to even more success in the future. Together with my team, I have been able to achieve a great deal in recent years as Board member responsible for the Eastern Europe region. Now being in charge for the entire group filled me with great energy. 

(Laughs) That's a nice way of putting it, but we owe our success to a great many dedicated employees who literally outgrew themselves this year. We were able to identify many opportunities that came our way early on and turn them into reality. And that's how we actually achieved a great result for EOS this financial year. 

In our business, investments in debt purchases are the foundation for our future growth. Last year, we invested the largest sum in the history of the EOS Group in NPLs to date, and even in markets that were difficult for us for many years, such as Greece. Here we achieved a real turnaround with the acquisition of a portfolio with a volume of more than 100 MEUR. Then we founded a new company in Portugal, which was able to generate sales immediately through a lucrative NPL purchase. In addition, we initiated many projects to optimize international cooperation. We are finding that we are benefiting more and more from the diversity of our Group. The different skills, experiences and ideas of our international teams in the various countries offer immense synergy opportunities. One example here is the optimization of IT.  

Oh, and then we relaunched our brand in 2022. I admit I'm more of a numbers person and don't deal much with marketing, but our new CI completely got me. It represents our group and our culture so much better than the old look.  

Another highlight last year was that we agreed to cooperate with the International Finance Corporation, or IFC for short, for initially three years. In the agreement with this organization, which is part of the World Bank Group, there is a lot of potential for EOS as a sustainable investor in the NPL business in some exciting markets in Eastern Europe. In addition, I still see room for maneuver in expanding our activities in the secured receivables business, which we are rolling out in more countries. 

We are facing strong headwinds at the moment, that's true. But EOS is made up of more than 6,000 competent and motivated employees who are already proving that they are ready to take on challenges and are doing so successfully with ambition and passion. I am convinced that this attitude will carry us through the next year.