Raiffeisen Locuinte loans down 26%

Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte, one of the two players on the market of housing savings and loan contracts, ended last year with a volume of loans granted worth 49m RON (12m euros), down around 26% from 2008. The value of attracted deposits reached 250m RON (59m euros), up 9% in RON, according to a report by Raiffeisen Bank Romania. Raiffeisen Locuinte's portfolio hit 128,000 contracts, with a contracted value of 2.26bn RON (535m euros). In mid-December, the bank's management projected a number of 135,000 contracts, including the 20,000 ones taken over from HVB Locuinte. Last year, Raiffeisen swallowed up rival HVB Locuinte in a deal finalised in December 1, 2009. Raiffeisen Locuinte stepped into the black after the first half of 2009 when it reported a positive result of 4.5m RON (over one million euros), after five years in business, and managed to stay profitable at yearend, too. "The 2009 financial result was positive, marking the first profitable year for a savings and loan type bank of Romania", reads the parent-bank's report.