Despite resuming the cycle of tightening the monetary policy and the growth trend of interest rates on the interbank market, the climate remained favorable to accessing loans in 2018.
Household and corporate lending reached an annual growth rate of 7.9% in December 2018, compared with the same month in 2017, which translates into a balance of RON251 billion.
Throughout 2018, the average growth rate of private lending exceeded 6.6%, the best result of the last six years.
The lending growth is mostly backed by the retail segment, while corporate lending is still feeble. Leu-denominated household loans remained the main driver in 2018, seeing two-digit growth rates, of over 19%.
The lending growth boosted banks’ assets by RON23.3 billion (+5.5%) in 2018, to a new record high of RON451.1 billion.
The return on assets (ROA) and the return on equity (ROE) reached 1.59% and 14.85%, respectively, at the end of 2018, higher than at the end of 2017 and comparable with the level reported for 2008, the year of economic boom and lending surge.
The lending rebound, the rise in interests and the improvement of portfolio quality helped the local banking system post an outstanding profit in 2018, of over RON7 billion (EUR1.5 billion), after already making a record profit of RON5.7 billion in January-September 2018.