First signs of rebound: Banca Transilvania doubles quarterly profit

Banca Transilvania (TLV) derived net income worth 31.7m lei in the first quarter, almost double last year's first quarter level. On Friday, the bank's shares gained 1.7% on a "red" market.

The falling provision expenses and a slight interest income increase brought Banca Transilvania the biggest quarterly income since the onset of the crisis, worth 31.76m lei (7.5m euros). Against the same period of last year, the bank's net income advanced by 98%, while the institution registered net provision expenses of 161m lei (38.1m euros) in the first three months of this year, 30m lei less than in the same period of 2010.

The bank's operating income reached 201.84m lei (47.8m euros), down 7% from a year ago.

On Friday, after the financial results announcement, TLV shares ended the trading session up 1.73% to 1.532 lei/share, a price at which the bank's market capitalisation stood at 2.264m lei. BET, the main bourse index, lost 0.95%.

"I see 2011 as a turning point and the bank's team is ready to continue to act responsibly to hit proposed targets," said Robert Rekkers, the general manager of Banca Transilvania, the biggest Romanian-held bank domestically.