The lender administered assets worth some €2.2 billion by the end of September 2007, up 213 percent year-on-year.

"Results registered in this year's first nine months exceed our expectations, and so has the 2007 forecast budget. It is a positive evolution which we also want to maintain in the coming years," said Stavros Lekkakos, General Manager of Piraeus Bank Group Romania.

The total value of loans administered by Piraeus Bank Romania exceeded €1.8 bln by 30 September 2007, a 230 percent year-on-year increase.

The retail segment has registered rapid and constant growth, due to the launch of new banking products and the fast development of the branch network, according to the bank's report. The value of individual loans amounted to €670 mln by the end of the first nine months of 2007, sevenfold that registered in September 2006.

Corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans topped €1.1 bln by the end of September 2007, soaring by 150 percent from September 2006.

The bank's client portfolio tripled in this year's first three quarters, to more than 166,000 people, as has the number of cards issued by Piraeus Bank Romania, to 38,000 units.

The lender's branch network doubled in this year's first three quarters from the first nine months of 2006, to 90 units. The financial institution is now very close to meeting its target of developing 110 branches by the end of 2007.