Bank of Cyprus makes 1.6m euros in Q1

The Romanian subsidiary of Bank of Cyprus made 6.8 million RON (1.6 million euros) in the first quarter of the year, 88% more in RON than the profit made in the first three months of 2008. The bank posted a 3.9 million-euro profit last year, after in 2007 - the year when operations started on the Romanian market - it had recorded losses. The Cypriots hold assets worth 2.38 billion RON (562 million euros) on the Romanian market. Expressed in RON, the overall assets are 4.5% higher than in December, but in euros the volume would be smaller, due to the exchange rate depreciation. Some of the credits granted in Romania have, however, been booked abroad.

The bank posted a net income worth 20 million RON (4.7 million euros) in the first three months of the year, compared with 10 million RON in the similar period of 2008. For this year, Bank of Cyprus has budgeted a doubling of deposits attracted from the clientele, which stood at 100 million euros at the end of last year, whilst the bank expected a two-digit rise on lending.