July 30 (SeeNews) - Garanti Group Romania said that its consolidated net profit dropped by 18% on the year in the first half of 2018 to 78.8 million lei ($20 million/17 million euro).
Garanti Group Romania, composed of Garanti Bank, Garanti Leasing and Garanti Consumer Finance, booked net revenues of 274.9 million lei in the first half of the year, it said in a press release late on Friday.
Total assets volume of the group grew 10.2% year-on-year, reaching 11.58 billion lei.
Garanti Bank, on a solo basis, registered a 64.6 million lei net profit at the end of June, down by 17% on the year.
However, the bank's loan portfolio increased by 9.8% on the year to 9.06 billion lei, while deposits grew by an annual 13.9% to 7.79 billion lei. Garanti Bank’s risk indicators are currently at a comfortable level, the bank said. Also, the bank's NPL ratio continued to decrease and it is considerably below the market average, while the NPL coverage rate by provisions exceeds 55%.
"The results in the first six months are in line with the objectives we had set for 2018, taking into account the macroeconomic context and our forecasts on the evolution of the economy. Our aim is to focus on growing organically in the local market, on maximizing client satisfaction and, at the same time, maintaining our profitability and the quality of our portfolio," Garanti Group Romania CEO, Ufuk Tandogan, said.
In the first half of the year, Garanti Bank's card portfolio continued to grow, exceeding 300,000 units. At the same time, the national Garanti POS network has increased by 5% to around 13,000 units.
During January-June, the group’s non-banking institutions, namely Garanti Consumer Finance and Garanti Leasing registered net profits of 5.3 million lei and 8.9 million lei, respectively.
Garanti Group Romania is held by Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (TGB), the second largest private bank in Turkey. TGB serves to its 15.8 million customers in corporate, commercial, SME, and consumer segments offering fully integrated financial services.
Garanti Group Romania offers financial services on the local market to more than 500,000 clients.
(1 euro=4.6248 lei)