Banca Transilvania said its after-tax profit rose in first quarter to 16 million lei (around €4 million), from a mere one million lei in the same period of last year.
Banca Transilvania's operating profit jumped 134% year-on-year, from 93 million lei to 216 million lei. Operating revenues rose 47% to 385 million lei from a year earlier, propped up by lending revenues, and by the decline in lending interests costs. Operating expenses remained at last year level, namely 169 million lei.
"As we had expected, the first quarter of 2010 hasn't been easy. But we managed to adapt to market conditions, and I think we found the opportunities for a sustainable growth of the bank. We recorded at the end of March an operating profit 134% higher from the same period of last year, while keeping the liquidity and capital adequacy indicators at comfortable levels", said Robert Rekkers, chief executive of Banca Transilvania.
The net credit risk cost stood at 191 million lei in the first quarter.
Banca Transilvania's assets totaled 19.29 billion lei in the period under review, down 1% from end-2009. Expressed in euro, the bank's assets increased 2.3% q-o-q, namely €4.710 billion.
The bank's loan book rose 2.25% in the three-month period ending March 31 to 12.444 billion lei. Corporate loans accounted for 56.69% in total bank lending, while retail loans accounted for 40.31%.
