In the absence of the spectacular effect of the income tax reduction of 2005 and in a competitive environment made harsher by NBR's restrictions meant to slow down lending, few of the leading commercial banks reported considerable net income advances in the first half of this year.
BCR, the biggest bank on the market, registered income growth by only 5 percent compared with the same period of 2005, but continued to report the fattest profit on the market, 127 million euros. At the same time, the bank's assets overshot the 10 billion-euro mark, as the bank bolstered lending.
In the case of BRD-SocGen, the first half income witnessed similar dynamics, after the around 50 percent leap posted in 2005.
The bank fully felt the cost increase generated by the administrative measures imposed by the NBR, as well as the effort of investing to expand its territorial network (around 25 million euros in 6 months), which has now reached 500 branches. BCR has thus remained second in terms of network size, with 444 branches.
Banca Transilvania also witnessed considerable growth in the first half of this year, reaching 300 branches, while its assets increased to 1.75 billion euros, bringing it to the fifth position in the market ranking.
Raiffeisen Bank, ranking third in terms of asset value, lagged behind in terms of network size, which consists of 236 branches. At the same time, the bank only managed to maintain the profit at the same level recorded in the first half of 2005. Focusing on the task of improving profitability and efficiency indicators, while having centred on the target of boosting its assets during previous years, Raiffeisen saw its market share decline further in the second quarter, below the 8 percent threshold.
Despite solid operation volumes, major banks had to take significantly narrower interest rate spreads, which fell to around 7 percent from 11.9 percent in June 2005.
Still, Banca Transilvania, one of the most dynamic players on the market over the past two years, reported net income growth by 16 percent, to 16.58 million euros.
Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (Romanian Savings Bank - CEC), which dropped to the sixth position in terms of asset value, consolidated its profit in the first half, generating an income of around 5 million euros, after having posted losses in 2005 due to its late entrance on the lending market.
The strongest income growth rates were registered by medium-sized banks such as Banca Romaneasca, UniCredit and Volksbank, which reported double and even triple profits, as in the case of Volksbank. At the same time, the three banks saw their incomes advance in parallel with asset growth, with Banca Romaneasca reaching a market share of 2 percent.
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