“We are focusing on organic growth, on a certain profitability robustness and on a very good expense control to have a robust viable bank. Of course, we are looking to achieve cost efficiency,” Oprescu told ZF in an interview.
“The good 2016 also shows a very good cost management. We saw our revenue go up and some of it came from one-off deals. The most important thing, however, is that we had a really good cost management in 2016, as in the previous years.”
Alpha Bank, which is a top ten lender by assets, was the most profitable of the Greek-held banks in Romania in 2016. It posted EUR17.8 million gross profit in January-September, compared with EUR3.4 million loss in the same time in 2015. Its return to profit was because of the decline in provisions along with an increase in operating revenue. Provisions dropped by about 16% to EUR25.4 million, while revenue rose by 18% to EUR111 million.
“The return to profitability was mainly because of the decline in risk costs.”
While Alpha Bank took a cautious approach to its lending business, it was very active in attracting local resources, so deposits went up at a double-digit rate, making up for what was lost during the crisis.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)