“The first nine months of 2019 were commercially dynamic. With increased lending on both retail and corporate segments, we kept our commitment to finance the Romanian economy in a responsible way, through an improved and balanced offer. The evolution of assets management activity was also remarkable, reflecting our strategy to capture the potential of the alternative savings market. In parallel, we continued to move forward with the implementation of our “phygital” business model, combining superior digital experience with human expertise ”, said Francois Bloch, CEO of BRD Groupe Societe Generale.
The bank had assets of RON54.1 billion at the end of September, 2.2% higher compared with September 2018.
Its total loan portfolio grew 2.9% to RON29 billion end-September, while deposits stood at RON44 billion, up 0.9% on the year. The bank had a network of 674 units at the end of September, 71 fewer compared with September 2018.
BRD Group’s net banking income grew 6.9% on the year in the first nine months, to RON2.44 billion, and its net profit grew 7.4%, to RON1.2 billion.
BRD has a market share of 12% by asset value at the end of December 2018.
BRD Group’s net loans, including leasing receivables increased 3.8% compared with end-September 2018, to RON31.2 billion, mainly due to growth in loans to retail and large corporate clients. Mortgage and consumer loans determined 2.8% annual growth in retail lending, while corporate loans were driven by large corporates and leasing.
New leasing financing grew 36% on the year in the first nine months, due to demand from small businesses and SMEs.
Overall, BRD Group improved its operating performance over the year with gross operating income reaching RON1.26 billion in January-September 2019 from RON1.185 billion in January-September 2018, up by 6.4% (+9.2% excluding contribution to Deposits Guarantee and Resolution Funds).
Cost-to-income ratio reached 48.5% in the first nine months and was quasi-stable compared with the same period in 2018. Excluding regulatory contribution, cost-to-income ratio was improved by 1.2 percentage points compared with the same period of last year.
Risk profile continued to be strong as reflected by the decrease in NPL ratio (non-performing loans) by 1.8 percentage points, to 4% end-September 2019 from 5.8% end-September 2018, embedding the result of write-off operations, as well as strong recovery performance on defaulted portfolios.
Provisioning coverage of non performing loans increased to 74.1% end-September 2019 from 73.1% end-September 2018 end.
The net loans to deposit ratio stood at 66.9% end-September 2019 (from 65.6% end-September 2018) for the bank, and 71% for the group (from 69% end-September 2018), including leasing receivables.