Gelin, BRD: Crisis shows in lack of demand and rise in non-performing loans

BRD, the second-largest bank on the Romanian market, posted a 55.5 million-euro profit in the third quarter of the year, down by around 33% against the same time in 2008, amid an over three-fold rise in loan-loss provisions, to 71.3 million euros. In the first nine months of the year, loan-loss provisions amounted to 165 million euros, 2.6 times more than in 2008, which contributed to a 30% decline in the bank's net profit, to 156 million euros. The bank does not publish the share of non-performing loans, but says it is below the banking system average. On July 31 it was 13.33%. The BRD publishes its results in line with Romanian accounting standards, which are stricter when it comes to loan loss provisions. Patrick Gelin, chairman of the BRD, says the lack of demand and the rise in non-performing loans are the main ways in which the crisis has struck the banking system. "Banking activity continued to suffer because of the crisis in the third quarter of the year, as well. This was on the one hand because of the lack of demand for banking products and services, especially on the individual segment, and on the other hand because of the continued rise in non-performing loans." Gelin says the effectiveness of internal measures, the spending cuts and the quality of the portfolio are helping the BRD cope in this difficult environment. In order to cut its costs, BRD shed 406 jobs in the third quarter to a total of 8,023 employees on record at the end of September. The cost/revenues ratio thus fell from 43.8% to 42.1%.