Net banking income was down 12.3% compared with the first quarter of 2013, mostly triggered by the decrease in net interest margin, BRD said in a statement. The net cost of risk fell by 29.7%, while the non-performing loan coverage improved to 70.9% in March 2014, from 68.9% at the end of 2013.
BRD said the outstanding gross loans to individuals reached 17.2 RON billion, up 1.3% year-on-year, fueled by a 16.4% increase in housing loans. However, the corporate lending activity remains low, generating a decline of 8.8% versus March 2013 of gross volumes, to 16.4 RON billion.
“The financing activity on corporate segment remains sensitive to the weak demand, but a more broad-based economic growth in the next coming months of 2014 should be a counterbalancing factor. We count inter alia on the existing and new investors` appetite for the Romanian economy and European funds absorption in order to finance new projects in the private and public corporate area,” the statement reads.
The bank said deposits rose by 6.9% on the year, so that the net loans to deposits ratio improved to 79.5% as of March 2014, from 94.6% in the previous year.
BRD, in which France’s Societe Generale owns 60%, is the second bank in Romania, with total assets of RON45.8 billion at the end of March, down from RON47.1 billion in December 2013.