CEC Bank ended last year with a gross profit of RON 222.7 million, 14 times higher than in the previous year, when reported a gross profit of RON 15.8 million, thus recording the best financial performance in the last ten years, following the implementation of the adopted strategies.
“The net balance at end-2017 was of RON 31.65 million, 12 percent more than in 2016. The result was based on the increase in the balance of new deposits from bank and non-bank customers, which supported the positive evolution of the assets generated by the lending activity. This led to an increase of the market share by volume of assets, from 7.16 percent at the end of 2016 to 7.42 percent at the end of 2017, thus maintaining the bank position in the top 7 banks in the Romanian banking system,” the state-owned savings bank said in a press release.
In 2017, the loan portfolio of corporate clients grew by about 9 percent compared to 2016, while this indicator grew by only 3 percent in the banking system.
The bank also increased its loan portfolio to individuals, which increased by 12 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year compared to the banking system where the growth was around 8 percent.
”According to the assumed mission, CEC Bank continues to support especially SMEs, agriculture and local public administrations. Particular attention is paid to the co-financing of projects funded by European funds. For 2018 we plan an increase of our activity, especially in the lending area with a visible impact on the increase of the efficiency and improvement of the prudential indicators. On April 30, this year, the bank posted a gross profit of RON 122.6 million, significantly higher than the target set for January-April 2018 period,” Radu Gratian Ghetea, President and CEO of CEC Bank, said.
The real increase in the total balance of credits was 12 percent, but this was diminished by direct write-off cuts in 2017 to 10 percent compared to 6 percent registered by the banking system. As regards the volume of new loans granted in 2017, it rose by 16 percent year-on-year, while the banking system’s growth was only 7 percent.
The rate of non-performing exposures on loans and advances recorded a decrease of 2.84 percent on December 31, 2017 compared to the level recorded at the end of 2016.
In April, CEC Bank opened a new branch in Olt County, in Deveselu commune. The bank has the widest territorial network that includes 1 022 units, out of which are located in the rural environment. Through them, about 556 000 individual and legal entity customers are served.