BCR 9-mo profit has halved to RON 560 M

In the first nine months of 2017, BCR achieved a net profit of RON 559.8 million (EUR 123.0 million), supported by good operating performance and continuous improvement of portfolio quality, a press release informs. However, compared to the same period of last year, net profit declined by 51 percent, mainly due to base effect from substantial risk provision releases and from significant gain following the sale of certain participations in January – September 2016.

The operating result stood at RON 1,072.0 million (EUR 235.5 million), higher by 0.4 percent than the previous year, when it stood at RON 1,067.9 million (EUR 238.1 million), due to lower operating expenses.

In bank retail business, BCR granted new loans totalling RON 4.1 billion with solid sales of both unsecured and secured loans. Secured loans have been consistently backed by the Prima Casă Program on the basis of new allocated funds and consequently higher drawings in the third quarter, an evolution that is expected to continue in the fourth quarter. These sales contributed to an advance in net retail loans stock of 3.6 percent against December 2016.

In bank corporate business, new volumes added on the balance sheet totalled RON 1.9 billion. Co-financing of EU funded projects was also solid, with BCR holding a portfolio of RON 7.82 billion co-financed.

Net interest income was down by 3.3 percent to RON 1,311.33 million (EUR 288.08 million), from RON 1,356.35 million (EUR 302.45 million) in the same period of 2016, on the back of continued NPL portfolio resolution and a still low interest rate environment.

NPL ratio at 10.5 percent as of 30 September 2017 significantly decreased from 13.3 percent as of 30 September 2016 and 22.2 percent as of 30 September 2015, due to reduction of NPL book through recoveries, healings, sales on NPL portfolios and write-offs.

Loans and receivable to customers increased by 2.5 percent to RON 33,101.77 million (EUR 7,197.13 million) at 30 September 2017, from RON 32,291.13 million (EUR 7,114.15 million) at 31 December 2016, as a result of increased lending volumes on both retail and corporate segments.

Deposits from customers decreased by 1.2 percent to RON 47,646.61 million (EUR 10,359.54 million) at 30 September 2017, versus RON 48,235.20 million (EUR 10,626.83 million) at 31 December 2016, due to a decrease in corporate deposits. Customer deposits remain BCR’s main funding source, while the bank benefits from diversified funding sources, including parent company.

”BCR plans to keep focus on RON lending, continuously increasing the share of loans extended in local currency, already predominant in bank’s overall loan portfolio, fully using the strong self-funding capacity in RON,” the release reads.