“Our net profit was impacted last year by two factors: the risk situation in Romania and the (foreign currency) loans in Hungary. In both countries we have solved those issues,” said Andreas Treichl, chief executive officer of Erste Group.
In 2013, the banking group reported a net profit of EUR60 million.
Erste closed last year with a profitable quarter, as net result amounted to EUR42 million in the October-December period, from a loss of EUR370.3 million in the same period of 2013.
“Business in our other subsidiaries went very well, considering the challenging environment,” said Treichl. “The return to profit in the fourth quarter shows that we took though but right measures in mid-2014.”
BCR, the Romanian unit of Erste, posted a net loss of RON2.8 billion (EUR630 million) for the full year 2014, after its risk provisions more than doubled to RON4.44 billion.