Piraeus Bank makes lower profit in Romania while growing loans to corporate sector

Greek-owned lender Piraeus Bank diminished its gross profit in Romania by 28 percent in the first semester of the year, to EUR 10.4 million, the bank has announced. Its assets reached EUR 2.1 billion, up 1 percent compared to June 2010. The bank managed to grow its deposits by 8 percent, year-on-year, to some EUR 1.1 billion. On the loans segment, corporate loans saw a 71 percent increase compared to June last year, while loans to small and medium enterprises went up by 9 percent year-on-year. On the retail side however, the volume of loans went down by 8 percent, according to the bank. At a group level, Piraeus grew its assets by 1 percent, to EUR 57 billion, but its loans were down 5 percent, while its deposits were also down 11 percent. The group made a loss of EUR 820 million, according to its financial report, that you can read herein full. editor@romania-insider.com