Banca Comerciala Romana has derived net profit after tax and payment of minority interests worth 382.7 million RON (103.6 million euros), an increase of 82.4%, whilst assets increased 2% and reached 64.6 billion RON (17.3 billion euros).
Operating income almost doubled from 297.5 million RON (87.9 million euros) to 595 million RON (161 million euros) as a result of a 48.5% increase in the group's operating revenues, which reached 987.2 million RON (267.1 million euros), much higher than the 6.87% increase in overall administrative expenses, a BCR release reveals.
According to the bank, the main growth driver was the strong rise in net revenues from interests (63.2%) and net revenues from fees (61.9%).
Risk provisions for loans and down payments were more than double the level during the same time last year, 118.2 million RON (32 million euros), which the bank explains by the fact that consumer loans were covered by risk insurance up until the second quarter of 2007. The improved operating results helped the cost/revenue ratio achieve significant growth, from 55.2% to 39.7%. As a result, the return on equity rose to 30.7% in the first quarter compared with 19.4% in March 2007.
The aggregate portfolio the bank granted to clients (before provisions were set aside under the IFRS), rose by 7%, from 36.88 billion RON (10.22 billion euros) at the end of last year and reached 39.28 billion RON (10.54 billion euros)
Total assets went up by just 2% in the first quarter from 59,611 billion RON (16,52 billion euros) to 60.69 billion RON (16.28 billion euros)
The share of domestic currency loans in BCR's portfolio stands at 50.08%, whilst the breakdown by destination of loans indicates retail (consumers and micro-enterprises) accounts for 54% of the total, while loans to corporate customers account for 46%.
Deposits from clients went up by 5% and reached 31.60 billion RON (8.48 billion euros) in the first three months. BCR notes a shift in savings preferences for sight accounts, which increased by 22%, a trend explained by the package of integrated products and services attached to the current account, which the bank introduced last year.
The loan/deposit ratio went up from 122% at the end of 2007 to 124.3% on March 31, 2008, due to the faster increase in lending compared with savings.
BCR continued to expand its ATM network to 1,530 terminals at the end of March 2008 (an increase of 13% compared with the same time in 2007) and the POS network to 13,085 terminals (an increase of 20.8% on the same time in 2007). Currently, the bank has about 2.4 million active cards in its portfolio.
In addition, the territorial network expanded by 18 new branches in the first three months of 2008. BCR reached 580 branches at the end of March, while the number of employees fell slightly to 9,638 employees compared with December 2007.
In the first quarter of last year Erste Bank, BCR's majority shareholder, posted 44.3 million euros in net profit derived from Romanian operations; the BCR group announced a net income of 924.8 million RON (276.5 million euros) for the entire 2007, under the IFRS.
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