Overall net profit of banks in Romania – up by 33pc in H1

The net profit of the local banking system, cumulated and not offset with losses, increased by 33%, to RON 3.6 billion, in the first half of this year, as compared to the same period last year, the most profitable semester in history, the figures released by the National Bank of Romania (BNR) reveal.

The result was due to the increased lending and to the cleaning of the portfolio. The value of assets increased by 9% at the end of June against the same period last year, by 0.66% as compared to the end of the first quarter and by 1.6% as compared to the end of last year, to almost RON 434.6 billion.

According to the Central Bank figures, the banks in our country achieved a net profit in the second quarter of this year of RON 1.83 billion, the most profitable quarter, given that for the first quarter the BNR figures point to net profit of RON 1.77 billion.

The solvency index exceeded 20% at the end of Q1 this year, reaching 20.07%, well above the level imposed by European standards, which is 8%, which shows that the banks in our country have plenty of room to increase credit.

The number of banks declined from 36, on June 30, 2017 to 35 on June 30, 2018 following the completion of the merger between Banca Transilvania and Bancpost. Following this transaction, BT surpassed BCR in the banks ranking in Romania, by assets, at the end of H1.