ING sees gross profit up 52% to 128m lei

ING Bank, the local branch of the Dutch group, ended last year with a 128 million-lei gross profit, up 52% against 2009 due to the significant cut in provision costs. "The earnings therefore exceeded the high reached in 2008, before the crisis. "All business lines were profitable. Retail also posted several million lei in profit last year," said Mişu Negriţoiu, general manager of the bank, mentioning that the commercial banking division (big companies) had the biggest contribution to the profit, followed by the medium-sized companies division and the retail division.

The bank's net income, however, fell 3% to 672 million lei. "The market was much more competitive and we adjusted our fees and commissions because we want to stay competitive. In addition, the results of the treasury declined because the market was more stable and they will probably decline this year, as well."

The development of the retail segment, which came to account for 41% of the bank's revenues, drove both the 4% rise in the volume of deposits, to nearly 9 billion lei, and the 3% loan increase, to 7.5 billion lei. "The loan to deposit ratio is below 100% and will stay this way because this is the business model and gives us a solid base for a new cycle of growth."

ING Bank has budgeted a higher asset growth rate of 15-20% compared with 9% in 2010, as well as a 10-15% profit increase, added Mişu Negriţoiu.