In June alone, the system lost almost RON500 million, as the cumulated profit stood at RON703 million after the first five months, central bank data showed.
Romania’s central bank asked banks to take some non-performing loans out of their balance sheets, which usually leads to increased losses, as booked provisions and the eventual amounts resulted from selling NPL portfolios may not cover the entire credit values.
In 2013, the Romanian banking system ended with a modest profit, of RON48.5 milion, after losses of RON777 million in 2011 and RON2.3 billion in 2012.
At the end of June, the NPL ratio stood at 19.2% from 20.3% in May. The solvency ratio was at 17%, up 1.5 percentage points from 15.5% at the end of 2013.
According to central bank data, local lenders returned funding worth of EUR1.2 billion to mother banks in the first six months.
At the end of June, the banking system’s total share capital stood at RON25.9 billion, up by RON700 million from December.
Banks had a total of 58,009 employees at June 30, down by almost 200 persons compared with the beginning of the year, while their networks cumulated 5,353 branches and other units.