Banks in Romania reach EUR 375 mln profit in first quarter

The Romanian banking system recorded a profit of RON 1.74 billion (EUR 375 million) in the first quarter of this year, up by 40% over the same period of 2017, according to preliminary data from Romania’s National Bank (BNR), cited by local Profit.ro. The local bank’s profitability thus reached the highest level in ten years. The local banks recorded an average return on assets (ROA) of 1.65%, up 0.3 percentage points compared to the first three months of 2017. The return on equity (ROE) also went up to 15.45%, from 12% in the first quarter of 2017. The total assets increased by almost 10% compared to March 2017, to RON 431.7 billion (EUR 92.8 billion). The non-performing loans (NPL) ratio went down from 9.36% in March 2017 to 6.16% in march 2018. The deposits outgrew the loans leading to a loans-to-deposits ratio of 75.3%, down over 5 percentage points year-on-year. editor@romania-insider.com