In January-June 2014, BRD posted net profit of RON128 million.
The significant increase of the profit was driven by ongoing improvement in risk costs and strict monitoring of operating expenses, the bank said in a statement.
The bank’s non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio dropped to 18.8% at the end of June, from 23.4% in the year-earlier period, as a result of write-offs and NPL sale transactions. The net cost of risk declined by 46.2% at group level, BRD said.
It said the net banking income fell 5% compared to the first half of 2014 to RON 1.22 billion, due to the low interest environment, while the suppression or reduction of some commissions on retail segment and lower revenues from commitments and guarantees from the bank translated into a 3.4% decline of net fees and commissions income.
“The BRD Group registered nonetheless higher revenues from internet and mobile banking, custody & depository services, asset management, syndicated loans and cash operations,” the statement reads.
Operating costs dropped 1.3% to RON633 million, and the cost to income ratio stood at 51.6%.
“The robust results for the first half of 2015 constitute the payoff for active risk management and cost saving efforts, and provide further confirmation of the solidity of BRD Group’s universal bank model,” said Philippe Lhotte, chief executive officer of BRD.
“Positive signals started to appear regarding activity levels, as testified by the continued improvement of individuals’ and large corporates’ loan production and quarter-to-quarter increase in core banking revenues.”
BRD, a unit of France’s Societe Generale, had total assets of RON48 billion at the end of June, compared with RON46.1 billion at the end of 2014.