Raiffeisen Bank net profit more than doubles in firt trimester of 2018, to over 45 million euro

Raiffeisen Bank ended the first trimester of the year with a net profit of over 45 million euro (212 million lei), more than double as compared to the similar period of 2017, when the result was influenced by the campaign of the conversion of loans in Swiss francs, at a discount, and the cost of the credit risk, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday. 

Raiffeisen Bank's total assets increased in the first trimester of the year to 37.21 billion lei (plus 13 percent year/year). The main engine of this evolution was the lending activity. The net worth of the loans given to clients went up 15 percent, in a balanced way, on all client segments - large and medium corporations, Small or Medium Enterprise (SME) and natural persons. 

Loans given to large and medium corporations have gone up every month of 2018 (a growth of 18 percent year/year), the largest share being held by the project financing or overdraft type loans. SME's loans were backed mainly by the Cosme program, with a 21 percent growth (year/year). 

As far as savings are concerned, the deposits attracted by Raiffeisen Bank rose by 17 percent in the first trimester of 2018, and amounted to more than 30.4 billion lei. 

"We have very good results in the first trimester of 2018, results that are based both on credit growth, especially for corporations and SMEs, and the increase of deposits attracted from our clients. We have, thus, the satisfaction of our important contribution to financing the Romanian economy," Steven van Groningen, chairman and CEO of Raiffeisen Bank said. 

The bank's income reached 554 million lei in the first three months of 2018, with a growth of 18 percent (year/year). The rate of non-performing loans has reached a level of 5.8 percent at the end of March 2018, compared to 6 percent in December 2017 and 8.3 percent in March 2017. 

The bank is a leader on the credit card market, with approximately 480,000 active cards (March 31, 2018) with a 10 percent rise y-o-y. As much as 95 percent of the amounts traded through Raiffeisen Bank credit cards are used for POS devices or online, for shopping. 

The number of individual customers has been relatively constant, as compared to March, last year, standing at two million. The bank also has in its portfolio approximately 100,000 SME's and 5,600 corporations. Raiffeisen Bank currently has 445 units throughout the country.