BRD-SocGen, the second largest bank on the market in terms of assets has accumulated a 682 million RON (approximately 207 million euro) net profit in the first nine months of 2007, up 43% on the same time last year. As a result, the figure after nine months exceeds the overall profit of 2006: 687.6 million RON (195 million euros). The bank's assets exceeded the equivalent of 10 billion euros, and amounted to 33.7 billion RON.

The third quarter was BRD's most profitable ever: 275 million RON (80 million euros), up 70% against profit in the same period in 2006.

"The result is within the parameters set for the 2007 budget. We will continue the same development strategy based on sustainable profitability," commented Patrick Gelin, BRD's chairman.

The bank budgeted a minimum 15% increase in net profit for 2007 against 2006, which translates into an over 790 million RON (232 million euro) target.

Comparisons between banks on the domestic market continue to be affected by different reporting methods. BCR, the main competitor of BRD announced 219.6 million euros in nine-month net profit, which includes all profits derived by the group's subsidiaries. Moreover, BCR's profit is calculated in line with international accounting standards, whilst BRD's profit is reported in line with the Romanian accounting standards.

Gelin believes the domestic banking market is starting to stabilise, which "allows for a significant increase in operations and results."

He notes the improvement of return on equity (ROE), from 34.9% in September 2006, to 43.2% in September 2007. BCR posted 22% ROE for the first nine months, against 18.8% in 2006.

"In the first nine months of this year we managed to confirm our performance across all markets, both in retail and SMEs, and on the market of major corporations. Our streams of revenue are balanced, and repr