Romanian state bank CEC reports profit and above-average growth in H1

Romanian state-owned lender CEC Bank reported a profit of RON 184.4 million (EUR 37.4 mln) in the first half of the year (H1), more than planned for the period. The bank provided no comparison to the same period of 2019.

CEC Bank reported this profit despite using RON 100 mln to build up provisions for the deterioration of the loan portfolio quality amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The bank reported a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 6.5% (versus 4.4% - the banking system's average), but it also said the NPL loans are sufficiently (210%) covered by guarantees and provisions.

The bank said its assets rose by 10% during H1 to over RON 36 billion (EUR 7.6 bln) at the end of June. This means its assets rose twice as fast as the whole banking system, whose assets increased by 4.7% year to date to RON 518 bln (EUR 107 bln). It also means that CEC Bank's market share by assets edged up to 6.9% from 6.6% at the end of 2019.

CEC's loan portfolio dynamic was also higher than the average: it rose by 3% year to date, compared to an average 1% advance of non-government loans for the whole banking system.

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