Cluj-Napoca-based Banca Transilvania (listed as TLV on the Bucharest Stock Exchange), the biggest bank with Romanian private capital, has posted net profit worth 79.55 million RON (24.1 million euros), up 35% from the corresponding period of last year.
In the second quarter of the year, the bank posted net profit worth 48.3 million RON (15 million euros), up 54% on the year-ago period, thus registering the biggest quarterly gain in the bank's history.
"The second quarter was a very good one, characterised by very favourable conditions for all our fields of business. The results have given us confidence that we will meet the income and revenues budgeted for this year and hope these favourable conditions will continue," Robert Rekkers, general manager of the bank, currently on a golfing holiday in Austria, told ZF.
The assets of Banca Transilvania increased by 22% in the first half of the year, approaching 10 billion RON (3.2 billion euros). The bank has achieved 83% of the asset level provided for in the spending and revenue budget for 2007. The bank's loan portfolio rose by 30% during this period, reaching 6.41 billion RON (2.03 billion euros).
Gross profit increased by 48%, to 93.47 million RON (28.3 million euros), accounting for 58% of the total gross profit budgeted for the year. Net provisions also increased by 157%, standing at 33 million RON (10 million euros) in the first half of this year.
The bank continued the strategy of expanding its territorial network and of launching new products in the first half of the year. Also, in the first six months of the year, the bank opened 44 new branches, thus reaching a 385-branch network with 5,240 employees. The number of the bank's active clients amounted to 897,000 at the end of June, up 27% against the beginning of the year.
"For me, the biggest challenge for this year is to have as many active clients as possible, our objective is to exceed the 1 million-client mark by the end of the year," said Rekkers, who has been at the helm of Banca Transilvania since 2002.
He also specified that the current situation is very favourable for Romanian banks and that it was not an appropriate time to sell the bank, as it still has resources to grow independently.
"We have extremely favourable circumstances working in our favour: interest rates are dropping, the capital market is going up, foreign money is entering the market. I think we can handle this rush of foreign capital and I don't think it's the right time to sell the bank, but the decision remains with the shareholders," specified Rekkers.
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