The target set for 2007 by Erste for its Romanian branch is a 40 percent year-on-year increase of BCR’s profits. “We are especially pleased about financial performances in Hungary, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. Furthermore, results posted by BCR prove that we took the right integration measures,” said Erste Bank’s General Manager, Andreas Treichl. For the first three quarters, Erste Bank posted net profits of €837.9 million, following minority interest payments, up 27.9 percent year-on-year, and the value of total assets is €200.6 billion, up 10.4 percent from 2006. Restructuring and transforming BCR involved costs up to €36.4 million, with adequate financial results, but integration measures will lead to a 40 percent rise in profits by year-end, according to the Intermediate Report on Q3, presented to Erste Bank shareholders. Erste representatives were less pleased with the non-life insurance division at BCR, which significantly contributed to a decline of Erste’s revenues from insurance activities. BCR posted net profits of RON 725.8 million (€219.6 million) in the first nine months of 2007, up 21.2 percent year-on-year owing to an increase in loans. Thus, the aggregated volume of its loan portfolio (prior to provisioning, International Financial Reporting Standards) increased by 31.8 percent in the first nine months of 2007, from RON 24.57 bln (€7.27 bln) on December 31, 2006, to RON 32.39 bln (€9.69 bln) by the end of September.
Corporate loans have a 48.7 percent share of total granted loans, while the retail segment - including small and medium-sized enterprises - represents 51.3 percent. Client deposits rose by 8.8 percent by the end of September 2007, to RON 26.65 bln (€7.97 bln), from RON 24.48 bln (€7.24 bln) at the end of 2006. BCR assets increased by 16.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2007, from RON 47.44 bln (€14.02 bln) at the end of 2006, to RON 55.21 bln (€16.51 bln) at the end of Q3 2007. The fastest growth pace was that of net income from commissions, which increased by 45.6 percent, from RON 407.8 mln (€114.9 mln) in January-September 2006, to RON 593.8 mln (€179.7 mln) in the same period in 2007.
