Alpha Bank’s loan portfolio in Romania exceeded EUR 2.7 bln

Alpha Bank Romania reported full year 2021 financial results highlights on Tuesday.

• New financing granted to legal entities advanced at a 72% annual pace, while financing granted to individuals marked a 46% annual increase. Thus, amid strong business generation, loan balance exceeded EUR 2.7 billion
• Considering the solid commercial dynamics and efficient risk management, profit before taxation reached EUR 25.6 million, 20% higher compared to the previous year
• Capital and liquidity have remained at elevated levels, significantly above regulatory thresholds

2021 macroeconomic environment was marked by a high degree of volatility with the economy recovering fast during the first three quarters of the year and inflation accelerating, especially during the fourth quarter. In this context, Alpha Bank Romania continued to support economic growth alongside business environment by actively participating to programs implemented by the Government. New funding provided to corporates doubled during the period, while SMEs new origination reached the highest level within the last decade. Additionally, in 2021, Alpha Bank launched an offer dedicated to startups, thus supporting entrepreneurs. At the same time, the Bank signed, during the third quarter, an agreement with the Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFRI) for accelerating the absorption of the European Funds allocated within the National Rural Development Program for 2021-2022.

Business generation efforts on the retail side resulted in a 33% annual increase of mortgage sales and an 80% jump in consumer loans sales.

Alpha Bank Romania continued its digital innovation and transformation agenda with projects targeting both products and services offered to customers, as well as process automation area. During the fourth quarter, the first Video Banking services were launched, offering to potential customers interested in contracting residential or car loans, access to the Bank’s specialists, through live sessions, in order to obtain all information regarding the product, required documentation, as well as loan implementation process.

In addition, the Bank continued focusing on diversifying customers’ access channels to its products and services and extended its network of multifunctional machines (ATM 24/7 Banking) in 100 locations. Moreover, in order to enhance the ability of meeting customers’ requests, Call Center availability was extended to also cover Saturdays. Furthermore, new functionalities were introduced in order to increase operational efficiency and reduce time-response to customers’ requests.

2021 focus on innovative payments solutions for merchants, both for physical locations and eCommerce brought the intended results, as the turnover of merchants through Alpha Bank Romania increased by 36% vs. 2020.

Alpha Bank Romania also contributed to the strengthening of interdependence between the capital and the banking market, following participation as manager in the EUR 40 million bond issuance of Libra Internet Bank.

Full-year financial results

At the end of 2021, the loan portfolio of Alpha Bank in Romania exceeded EUR 2.7 billion, marking a 3,3% increase compared to previous year, while customer deposits exceeded EUR 2.68 billion.

The solid increase of fee revenues (over 20% compared to the previous year) alongside an efficient risk management overshadowed the negative impact of the low interest rates and generated a profit before taxation of EUR 25.6 million, beating expectations for 2021.