Raiffeisen Locuinte makes 1m RON profit after five years of losses

Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte, one of the two players on the housing savings and loan market, ended 2009 with profit worth 1m RON (238,000 euros), in line with IFRS, the first annual profit generated since the bank was set up, back in 2004. After the first half of 2009, the bank had posted 4.5m RON income (over 1m euros), but the full-year figure was eroded by costs related to the merger with HVB Banca pentru Locuinte and losses registered by the absorbed bank. Raiffeisen integrated the almost 20,000 contracts of HVB Locuinte, reaching a total number of 128,000 contracts in late 2009. "Since the beginning of the year, we've sealed 5,000 contracts. It's not a high number, but it's an expected seasonality. The start of the year is more difficult," stated Andrei Stamatian, chairman of the bank. The total value of deposits reached 250m RON (59m euros) at the end of 2009, up 9% from 2008. The loan portfolio hit almost 50m RON (12m euros) in late 2009, from 2,500 active lending contracts.