A significant part of asset were transferred to IMO Property Investments Bucharest, a subsidiary of EFG, the Greek group that controls Bancpost.
According to 2010 annual reports, Bancpost ceded net receivables from corporate clients worth 159.3 million lei (almost EUR38 million), which reached IMO Property and EFG Eurobank. The bank specifies that “all considerable risks and benefits associated with the portfolio” have been transferred, without mentioning the price the respective transfers were operated at. However, it still is the manager of the respective loans.
Other assets worth RON309.5 million (almost EUR74 million) were wiped out from the bank’s balance sheet last year under an unspecified form.
Through such operations, Bancpost is deliberately reducing the volume of balance sheet assets, which no longer reflects the natural tendency of the bank’s portfolio. At the end of 2010, the bank ranked ninth by assets, with a 3.9% market share, a position it maintained after the first half of this year.
The transfer of assets from the balance sheet can be used both as a funding source and as a way to clean up portfolios.
According to banking sources, Bancpost still registered a loss in the first half according to the Romanian accounting standards, of some RON45 million (over EUR10 million).
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Radu Bostan)