Austria's Volksbank lost 36m euros in Romania last year

Volksbank International, which owns the eighth largest bank in Romania in terms of assets, last year registered net losses of 36m euros from Romanian operations, stated Friedhelm Boschert, the bank's CEO, in an interview with a publication, also published by Reuters.
Contacted by ZF, Volksbank Romania representatives did not comment on the information, only specifying that the data presented in Vienna were preliminary ones, with the audited figures due to be published at the end of this month.
The domestic bank is Volksbank International's only unit to post a negative figure last year, while in all the other nine countries it is operational in, the group derived profit. Incomes from other markets could not offset the Bucharest loss, though, so that at an aggregate level Volksbank International had a 21.8m-euro loss.
Romania is the biggest foreign market for the Austrians, concentrating around a third of the group's assets.
Though Volksbank International set up 238m-euro bad loan provisions last year, Boschert says he is confident the bank will switch to profit in 2011.