Romanian lender EximBank registered a gross profit of around EUR 6.8 million (almost RON 30 million) in the first half of this year, almost double the level of the entire 2012, according to the bank’s preliminary financial results.

“We have set as an objective for 2013 the organic growth, linking our activity’s development to an increase in resource efficiency,” said Traian Halalai, President of EximBank (in picture). He also added that the actions taken in late-2012 and early-2013 for repositioning the bank were successful so that, “at the end of the first semester, EximBank has registered an increase in banking revenues with almost 5 percent as compared to the same period of 2012, while the operational costs have been reduced by 15 percent.”

Moreover, according to the Romanian lender’s president, the bank’s crediting activity has improved in the first half of 2013, this line of business being more active than the guarantees segment. “We have the capacity of playing on equal terms with the other banks in the system and we benefit from the strength of having a competitive level of costs. This is why we are confident we will also close this year ranking within the group of profitable banks,” said Traian Halalai.

In the first semester of this year, the bank has changed the commercial structure and has implemented an organizational concept based on regional directors coordinating sales at national level. The bank also opened three new units in this period, in Galati, Ploiesti and Pitesti, and plans to open two more in the following period.

EximBank is a specialized bank whose product portfolio focuses on financing, guarantees and insurance. The bank currently has a network of 15 units in Bucharest, Bacau, Brasov, Buzau, Constanta, Cluj, Craiova, Deva, Galati, Iasi, Oradea, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Timisoara and Sibiu.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com