Romania’s state owned EximBank registered a net profit of EUR 7.2 million in the first half of the year, 29 percent higher compared to the same period of 2013, according to an official announcement.

The bank, which grants loans and guarantees for local companies that have export operations, said that the profit increase was supported by the expansion of clients’ portfolio and the extension of the bank’s national coverage.

The new total exposure granted during the first six months of the year (both on state’s name and account and own) reached almost EUR 107 million, out of which 90 percent have been directed towards financing the companies, the difference representing banking guarantee letters or multi-product limits.

“EximBank’s strategy implemented during the last two years, focused on proactively engaging the market and improving the capacity of rapid answering to the clients’ needs allowed an increase of the net credits granted by the bank with 24 percent as compared to December 2013,” said Traian Halalai, president of EximBank.

The net loan portfolio of the bank reached some EUR 330 million at the end of June, compared to about EUR 265 million at the end of 2013. The total assets of the bank at the end of December 2013 were almost EUR 900 million, most of which were invested in state bonds.

“One of the strategic business directions of this period was improving the assets’ structure by re-directing the investments from state titles to interbanking investments (on short term) the final goal being to make more funding available for supporting the growth of the crediting activity,” Halalai explained.

He added that during the whole mentioned period, the cost optimization process continued, which resulted in the share of operational costs in the total banking revenue declining from 54.7 percent in 2012 to 52.5 percent in 2013 and 46.1 percent during the first semester of 2014.

EximBank is a specialized institution whose product portfolio is focused on financing, guarantee and insurance for exporters, SMEs and companies involved in projects pertaining to key economic sectors, particularly those contributing to the absorption of EU funds. The process of developing the operational network has started last year by launching four new agencies. The newest agency has been opened in Arad last month, another two units being currently in the set-up process. The bank has a network of 17 units.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com