With more clients and falling loans Piraeus preserves profit
Autor:
Liviu Chiru
24.03.2011
Piraeus Bank, the domestic subsidiary of a top Greek financial group, last year generated 25m-euro gross income, flat from 2009.
The Greeks managed to preserve profit by boosting the number
of clients, a strategy it had announced as early as 2009, while
loan portfolio deterioration deepened, with the weight of bad loans
climbing to 10.8% from 5.8% in December 2009. The figures are
calculated in line with IFRS, being consolidated for Piraeus' all
domestic operations.
"During this interval, the bank's number of clients rose by 5%, while deposits advanced by 2% and the loan volume posted a slight decline amid the gap between loans paid back by clients and released ones," stated Cătălin Pârvu, a general executive manager with Piraeus Bank.
The loan portfolio slid by 6% last year, to 3.2bn euros. Risk charges climbed to 4.3% in Romania last year, from 3.6% in 2009.
The Romanian subsidiary last year generated the highest operating income among Piraeus' foreign subsidiaries, of 191m euros.