February 28 (SeeNews) - Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), part of Austria's Erste Group, said on Friday its net profit plummeted by 50.7% year-on-year to 593.2 million lei ($135 million/123 million euro) in 2019.
Net profit was impacted by the significant one-off provision allocation related to the activity of BCR Banca pentru Locuinte, despite the best operating result in the last five years underpinned by strong loan growth, BCR said in a press release communicating its fourth quarter unaudited consolidated results.
BCR's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio decreased to 4.1% at end-December from 5.8% at end-2018, while NPL coverage ratio was 116.3%.
The bank's operating result rose by an annual 9.3% to 1.786 billion lei in 2019, supported by better operating income along with strict cost control.
Net interest income grew by 10.2% on the year to 2.256 billion lei in 2019, amidst a higher interest rate environment and higher customer loans and deposits, improvement of balance sheet structure and lower funding cost as per early repayment of intragroup funding.
Net fee income grew by 10.4% year-on-year to 780.6 million lei in 2019, mainly driven by higher income from maintenance fees for current accounts and insurance fees coupled with a better result from cash activities. Net trading result decreased by an annual 21.1% to 352.4 million lei.
Loans and advances to customers increased by 10% to 40 billion lei as of end-December, supported by both corporate and retail segments.
Deposits from customers increased by 4.9% to 57.8 billion lei as of end-December, supported by the increase in retail and corporate deposits.
BCR provides financial products and services, through a network of 19 business centers and 17 mobile offices dedicated to companies and 430 retail units located in most Romanian cities with over 10,000 inhabitants.
At the level of BCR Group, net profit fell by an annual 61.4% to 85 million euro ($93 million) in 2019, its parent Erste said in its fourth quarter unaudited statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
BCR Group includes BCR bank, BCR Banca pentru Locuinte, BCR Pensii, Societate de Administrare a Fondurilor de Pensii Private, BCR Leasing IFN and BCR Chisinau.
(1 euro=4.8068 lei)