Romania's three largest banks increase profits by 50%

BCR, BRD-SocGen and Banca Transilvania, the top three local lenders, recorded cumulative profits of about EUR 330 million after the first six months of the year, up 50% over the same period in 2015, reports local Ziarul Financiar. Their earnings accounted for more than half of the profit recorded by the entire Romanian banking system during the same period. The assets of the three banks advanced by almost 9% year-on-year to almost EUR 35 billion. By comparison, the local banking’s total assets dropped to about EUR 83 billion at the end of June this year. The difference between BRD and Banca Transilvania dropped to only RON 0.5 billion (EUR 112 million). Last year BRD had a market share of 13%. Banca Transilvania saw a significant increase in its market share from 10% to 12.6% after taking over the local lender Volksbank. editor@romania-insider.com