Romanian lender BCR had clients trading EUR 6 bln via internet and telephone

Retail clients of Romanian lender Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) have carried out transactions worth over RON 27 billion (some EUR 6.1 billion) in 2013 via Click and Alo 24 Banking service (internet and telephone), according to the bank. The RON 27 billion traded through Click and Alo 24 Banking BCR have been carried out in around seven million transfers, over 96 percent of them being intra and interbank transfers and currency exchanges. The authorized individuals (PFA) segment recorded last year the largest increases of transactions, both in terms of number - over 23 percent, and in the value traded - 26 percent. Clients in the micro companies segment are running about 76 percent, namely RON 21 billion (EUR 4.7 billion), of the amounts traded via Click and Alo 24 Banking. “There is an increase in the transactions’ volume and number, the highest growths being registered in the number of intra and interbank transactions, currency exchanges, as well as in Direct Debit and Standing Order operations,” according to a bank statement. BCR Group posted a net profit of EUR 133.8 million in 2013, after posting a loss of EUR 277 million the year before, on the back of good operating result offsetting still elevated risk cost. Despite an 8.9 percent decline in assets, BCR, owned by Austria’s Erste, kept its first spot assets wise within the Romanian banking system, with EUR 14.9 billion in assets at end 2013. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com