The Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) saw a net loss of 762.5 million lei (172.1 million Euros) at the end of Q3 2012, whereas over the same period of last year it had net profit 67.6 million lei (16.1 million Euros), according to a press release by the bank.
This result came on the back of high provisions, which were higher after nine months than what they were at the end of 2011. Thus the net expenses with risk provisions for loans and advance payments, reached 2.63 billion lei (594.7 million Euros) in the first nine months of the year , up 64% YOY and 25% compared to the end of 2011 when they amounted to 2.1 billion lei (508 million Euros).
The representatives of the bank said that the results reflect the impact which the low performance of the Romanian economy had on companies and on the real estate market.
The evolution of provisions led to an increase in the rate of coverage of non-performing loans to 57.2%, at the end of September, compared to 50.6% at the end of 2011. The rate of coverage of non-performing loans, including collateral guarantees, stayed at 109.9%, on September 30th, despite a reevaluation of the collaterals.
At the end of September, the ratio of non-performing loans stood at 25.8% of the total loan portfolio.
Tomas Spurny, CEO of the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), said that the third quarter was the first to show an improvement in the performance of the bank, which shows the commitment of the management to bring the BCR group back to profitability, the press release of the bank states.
His statements - the first since taking over the management of the bank in April - are made as the bosses in Vienna asked the new board of BCR to implement a process for the transformation of the bank, which would lead to its profitability in 2013.
Tomas Spurny said: "The BCR group delivers its first quarter during which t
