Romanian state-owned CEC Bank increases gross profit sevenfold

Romanian state-owned lender CEC Bank recorded a gross profit of RON 204 million (EUR 44.5 million) in the first nine months of this year, almost double compared to the first six months of this year and seven times higher than in the first three quarters of last year. The results haven’t been audited. The net balance sheet amounted to RON 28.59 billion (EUR 6.2 billion) at the end of September, up 1.54% compared to the end of 2016. CEC Bank’s market share grew to 7.23% in mid-2017. The lender thus ranks seventh among local banks. The loans granted to companies rose by 5.3% compared to the end of last year, above the 2.9% growth in the whole market. Household loans went up by 10% year-to-date whereas the average growth in the market amounted to 5.6%. The volume of new loans granted in 2017 reached RON 4.8 billion (EUR 1 billion) in the first nine months of this year, up 33.5% year-on-year. CEC Bank had a non-performing loan ratio of 10.91% at the end of September. The NPL rate on the retail loan portfolio was only 3.6%. This means that corporate loans had a much higher bad loan rate. editor@romania-insider.com