UniCredit Tiriac Bank, a top ten player in the banking system, ended H1 with net income worth 43m euros in line with international financial reporting standards, down around 5m euros from the corresponding period of last year.
In RON, income slightly rose by 2%, to 181m RON. The bank for the first time publishes net income calculated in line with Romanian accounting standards (RAS), as it reports it to the NBR: around 30m euros (126m RON), with the gap deriving from the different treatment of provisions. UniCredit thus becomes the only lending institution releasing both figures, while other players are shunning RAS figures as they put them to a disadvantage.
Revenues advanced by 18%, while the pace of operating expenses halved, with the cost/revenue ration standing at 47%. The weight of non-performing loans climbed to almost 4%.
"We have focused on raising the level of cash and on balancing the loan/deposit ratio, continuing to lend and keeping profitability stable, which will allow us to safely cross this economic instability period," comments Rasvan Radu, executive chairman of UniCredit Tiriac Bank.
The volume of loans released by the bank reached 3.85bn euros at the end of H1. In RON, the portfolio increased by 16% from the year-ago level, to 16.2bn RON.
The bank’s representatives state the quality of the loan portfolio deteriorated during the first half, as it happened at the level of the entire market, but they maintain the volume of bad loans is within manageable limits, being "far from endangering the bank’s capacity to generate profit."
UniCredit Tiriac Bank feels that resuming lending has become vital for the economy and the banking sector, even as risks need to be tightly controlled.
In the first half, the bank launched successive campaigns to attract deposits from clients, so that the volume of deposits climbed by 66%, to 10.9bn RON (2.6bn euros). Amid lending slowdown, the loan/deposit ratio adjusted visibly, from 145% in late 2008 to 111% on 30 June. The bank’s total assets reached 19.5bn RON (4.6bn euros), up 27% from H1, 2008.
"Profitability in the banking industry will undoubtedly fall, but the only rational approach for the success and longevity of banking activities is the ability to make the correct moves in the future and to invest even in a difficult context," said Stanislav Georgiev, CFO of UniCredit Tiriac.
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