BCR’s considerable profit growth was also due to weak results in the first nine months of 2019, when it reported a net loss of RON20.8 million in the first half due to an exceptional provision and its profit amounted to RON348.8 million after the third quarter.
BCR posted operating revenue of RON2.61 billion, up 1.2% on the year, driven by higher net interest revenue and trading income, which partially offset lower income from commissions and fees.
BCR’s operating profit grew 6.6% on the year in the first nine months, to RON1.4 billion. It said net interest income grew 5.7%, to RON1.77 billion, due to larger loan volumes on the retail and corporate segments, partially offset by the lower interest environment.
Net income from commissions dropped 13.3% on the year in the first nine months, to RON501.7 million, due to a lower volume of cash withdrawals and the bank’s elimination of cash withdrawal commissions during the state of emergency in April and May.
Net trading income grew 2.2% in the first nine months, to RON256.7 million.
The bank’s net loan portfolio grew 6.1% on the year in the first nine months. It said it granted new loans totaling RON6 billion to individuals and RON5.7 billion to corporate customers.
The bank’s non-performing loan rate reached 4.4% at the end of September, higher compared with 4.1% in December 2019. The bank said the higher NPL rate reflects a single exposure to a corporate customer that became non-performing in the second quarter.
Erste’s net profit attributable to shareholders stood at EUR637 million in the first nine months, from EUR1.2 billion in the same period last year, impacted by higher provisions set aside due to the coronavirus pandemic.