BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, the second top bank in the Romanian banking system estimates net profit this year to be comparable to the one in 2002. The bank believes the main reason for this relative stagnation is the introduction of the new provisioning regimen.
"The net profit in 2003 will be almost equal to the one in 2002 and this is because of the new provisioning regulation. The gross operating income went up 12% in the first half, deflatedly speaking, and we estimate the growth pace to maintain in the second half, as well," Patrick Gelin, BRD-Groupe Societe Generale on Tuesday said.
BRD last year logged 2,249bn ROL net profit, up 15.3% from 2001, while the gross operating income was of 2,872bn ROL, 13.6% higher than in the previous year.
BRD-Groupe Societe Generale on Tuesday dedicated its new headquarters in Piata Victoriei, which cost more than 45 million euros. The ceremony was attended by Romanian President Ion Iliescu, French Foreign Trade minister Francois Loos and Societe Generale's general manager Philippe Citerne, as well as by the entire Bucharest management team of the bank.
"Erecting this building clearly shows our confidence in BRD, in the potential of the Romanian market, and our satisfaction with our business here. All the results we've had since 1999 have been in line with the direction we envisioned," Philippe Citerne said.
He explained the judgement of BRD's financial evolution had also taken into account the organic growth of the bank in this period. BRD is the second largest bank in the Romanian banking system and the French group is its majority shareholder (51%).
GSG's international retail network manager, Jean Pierre Mattei, in his turn said Romania's upcoming EU accession was one of the arguments for the group's involvement on this market. oana.nuta@zf.ro
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