Corporate loans rose 36% year-on-year to EUR66 million in the January-August period, while consumer loans more than doubled to EUR17 million, the bank said in a statement.
Volksbank has lowered its interest rates on leu-denominated loans for consumers to stimulate lending growth.
“The lower rates on consumer loans are a part of Volksbank Romania’s plan concerning its repositioning on the local market,” said Benoit Catel, president of Volksbank Romania.
“The restructuring process is largely completed and the bank is already a financier of the local economy,” Catel added.
Founded in 2000, Volksbank Romania was originally part of Volksbank’s eastern European arm Volksbank International. The latter was sold to Russia’s Sberbank in 2011, in a deal which left out the Romanian lender.
Volksbank Romania was afterwards transferred to Volksbank’s non-core division pending sale.
Under a reorganization strategy approved by the European Union in 2012, the Austrian financial group must sell its Romanian business and several other non-core units by 2017 at the latest.