Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) ended last year with a net profit of RON 668.1 million (EUR 146.2 million), down by 35.7 percent compared to 2016, when the bank’s net profit stood at RON 1.045 billion, the financial results reveal.
At the same time, BCR recorded in 2017 an operating result of RON 1,343.7 million (EUR 294.1 million), 3.5 percent higher than the previous year, driven by higher operational revenues and more efficient spending, as a press release informs.
“The economy evolved strongly in 2017 and it was driven not only by a sustained revival of consumption, but also by strong industrial production, agriculture and services, where BCR has substantially outgrew the market in financing small and medium enterprises,” Sergiu Manea, CEO of BCR, stated.
In 2018, BCR head expects the economic growth to maintain a solid pace around 5 percent, incomes to grow at a moderate pace and unemployment to stay low, but he also sees risks in in the financial markets.
BCR’s NPL ratio stood at 8.1 percent as of 31 December 2017, significantly lower versus 11.8 percent as of 31 December 2016, due to the constant efforts in recent years for the overall reduction of the NPL book through recoveries, sales of selected NPL portfolios and write-offs. NPL provision coverage ratio comfortably stood at 92.7 percent, while, collateral included, it stood at 128.5 percent.
In retail banking business, BCR granted new loans totalling RON 5.5 billion, with solid sales of unsecured and secured loans – mainly due to “Divers” cash loan with fixed instalments, whose sales recorded an increase of 7 percent year-on-year. According to our surveys, most of the personal needs loans went to dwelling refurbishment (56 percent), purchase of a car (14 percent) and purchase of furniture (10 percent).
Significantly, last year, over 10,000 families in Romania opted to acquire a house through BCR, choosing either the “Prima Casa” programme or the standard BCR mortgage loan “Casa Mea”, the latter recording in the fourth quarter an advance in sales of over 77 percent as compared to the same period of last year.
In corporate banking business, new volumes added on the balance sheet totalled RON 2.6 billion. There was a significant increase of 16.8 percent yoy in SME financing.
Deposits from customers grew by 8.8 percent to RON 52,496.1 million (EUR 11,268.9 million) at 31 December 2017, versus RON 48,235.2 million (EUR 10,626.8 million) at 31 December 2016, driven by both retail and corporate deposits. Customer deposits remain BCR’s main funding source, while the bank benefits from diversified funding sources, including parent company.