Romanian lender Banca Transilvania's first quarter EUR 19 million profits are down slightly on 2012

Local lender Banca Transilvania (BT) recorded a slight drop in net profits in the first quarter of 2013, compared to the same period last year. Net profits stood at around EUR 19.3 million in the first three months of 2013, against some EUR 21 million for Q1 2012. “BT first quarter results are in line with our expectations,” said Chairman of the Board Horia Ciorcilă on the release of the bank's quarterly financial results on April 30. Banca Transilvania's total net assets climbed by 2 percent from the end of 2012 over the first three months of this year, reaching nearly EUR 6.9 billion by the end of March. The rise was mainly driven by investments in salable assets, according to the bank. Provisions for non-performing loans (NPL) provided coverage of 108.34 percent, and in absolute amounts rose from the of 2012 to nearly EUR 506 million. NPLs, in arrears for more than 90 days, represent 11.92 percent of the banks total loan portfolio. The net charge of provisions for assets, other liabilities and loan commitments was just under EUR 17.3 million for Q1 2013, compared to some EUR 19.3 million for the first three months of last year. Meanwhile, net costs for lending provisions were a little above EUR 17.8 million over the first quarter of this year, compared to nearly EUR 18.8 million in the same period of 2012. The cost to income ratio was 50.65 percent at the end of March 2013. Operating expense were down 4 percent year-on-year to some EUR 41.26 million for the first quarter of 2013. “We are focusing on optimizing our business model and our goals this year are to increase revenue and efficiency, and increase the value and our market share,” said Ciorcilă. editor@romania-insider.com