With higher 2013 profit, Romania's Banca Transilvania sees its best lending period in last quarter of the year

Romanian lender Banca Transilvania posted a net profit of around EUR 83.3 million in 2013, when the last three months of the year represented its best quarter for lending. Its gross profit of EUR 98.4 million was up by a third compared to 2012. In 2012, the bank's net profit was of EUR 72 million. The bank, which upped its loans by 9 percent and its deposits by 11 percent, above the budgeted level, granted over 25,000 new loans in the last quarter of 2013., worth some EUR 706 million. Banca Transilvania's net expenses with provisions were up 9 percent in 2013 over 2012, to some EUR 90.4 million, but the bank says they were within the budget target for 2013. The total value of provisions for bad loans was of EUR 554 million end – 2013, slightly up from the end of 2012. With a loan portfolio of EUR 4.25 billion and non-performing loans covering 12.5 percent of that, the bank saw its deposits at EUR 5.7 billion at the end of last year. :We're happy with our results, but mostly because we continued to be active financiers of the Romanian economy and we achieved all our targets. 2013 was a very good year for Banca Transilvania, the more so as the period September – December was one of the best quarters for the bank's lending,” said Horia Ciorcila, the president of the bank's board. The fourth quarter of 2013 brought a historic record for the bank on the retail segment, where it granted EUR 94 million worth of loans. Meanwhile, it also handed out 6,000 new corporate loans. Banca Transilvania's assets were of EUR 7.1 billion at the end of 2013, while its active customers amounted to 1.76 million. The bank's focus areas were retail and small and medium enterprise clients, and specialized segments, such as agriculture, and healthcare. Last year, the bank issued bond convertible shares worth some EUR 30 million and inked two new subordinated loans contracts of EUR 40 million. Banca Transilvania, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and with a capitalization of around EUR 804 million, has among its shareholders the European bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD, with 15 percent of its shares, Bank of Cyprus with 9.7 percent, SIF Moldova and SIF Oltenia, both with around 5 percent. editor@romania-insider.com