The net profits made by commercial banks in the first nine months amount to 1.7bn RON (more than 470 million euros), the same as the profits of the banking system for the whole of 2004, according to reports to the National Bank of Romania.
Neither the interest decline, the lending restrictions imposed by the NBR, nor competition on the market affected the profits of most banks in any visible way. Banks, after all, have first cut interest on deposits and only later reducing those on loans, showing special concern for the preservation of their margins, especially when it comes to individual clients.
More than 60% of the net profit of the banking system from January through September came from BCR and BRD, the top two financial groups in Romania.
Nine months into the year, Banca Comerciala Romana logged nearly 650 million RON (the equivalent of 180 million euros) in profit, while BRD posted 448 million RON (124 million euros).
Raiffeisen Bank did not reveal its profits for the first nine months but was making 17.4 million euros, midyear.
HVB Bank, which climbed to number four in terms of assets at the end of September, logged 33.6 million-euro profits.
Bancpost, the fifth player in terms of assets nine months into the year made 12 million-euro profits.
After seeing losses during the first half, CEC in its turn posted 870,000-euro profits for the first three quarters.
Next in line, the Dutch banks ABN Amro and ING do not reveal financial results during the year.
Significant profit growth was witnessed by Banca Transilvania, which made it into the top ten players in terms of assets. Its profit stood at 20 million euros.
Out of the banks to have released nine-month financials, Alpha Bank derived 21.3 million-euro profits. Banca Romaneasca, a subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece, saw its profits shrink to only 3.2 million euros, due to large expenses related to investments for the expansion of operations. UniCredit, which could be pushed up to third place in terms of sales, following merger with HVB/Tiriac, made 4.2 million euros in profit for the first three quarters.
In 2004, the top ten banks collected nearly 400 million-euro profits, most of them seeing growth of as much as 60% in comparison to the previous year.
The loans granted by banks to companies and consumers increased by 24% in real terms during this period, faster than in the corresponding period of 2004. This was due to a 54% increase in credits for individual customers.
The amounts attracted from consumers increased towards 32bn RON (nearly 10bn euros), 5bn RON more than the level seen at the beginning of the year.
It should be noted that the personnel employed by banks increased by 2,000 people in the first three quarters, to a total of 51,586. That was despite the shedding of several hundred jobs in September, probably the outcome of the restructuring of Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni.
Banking assets increased to 118bn RON, the equivalent of some 32.7 billion euros. razvan.voican@zf.ro
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
