Largest Romanian lender BCR widens loss after nine months on higher risk provisions

Romania's largest lender by assets, BCR widened its loss to EUR 172 million in the first nine months of this year, after a profit of EUR 16.1 million in the same period of last year. The BCR group's risk provisions went up considerably, to almost EUR 600 million, an increase of over EUR 200 million, “ reflecting the impact of a continuing weak performance of the Romanian economy on corporate and real estate business,” according to BCR. The non-performing loans ratio was of over a quarter of the total loans portfolio at the end of September. The group managed to reduce its quarterly loss in the third quarter of this year, compared to the previous quarter.

The group's total assets declined by 0.5 percent, to some EUR 16.8 billion, but still cover some 20 percent of the Romanian banking market. The volume of aggregate loans to customers increased by 3.1 percent over the year to date, to some EUR 12.1 billion, while consumer credit demand stayed rather modest accompanied by a decline in micro business demand. “Corporate lending portfolio continued to rise with a special focus on sectors with a positive outlook, mainly on infrastructure, renewable energy, agribusiness, manufacturing and the public sector,” according to BCR. Aside from improving our cost base, BCR Group will focus on systematic pursuit of improvements concerning commercial capabilities, operational excellence and asset quality. These focused measures will deliver sustainable results,” said Tomas Spurny, CEO of BCR. Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com