Raiffeisen Bank Romania posts EUR 50 M net profit in H1

Raiffeisen Bank Romania posted a net profit of EUR 49.98 million for the first half of 2010 and an operational profit of EUR 83.8 M, a press release informs. The results are largely in-line with the net profit of EUR 52.7 M and operational profit of EUR 106.2 M Raiffeisen Bank had reported in June 2009. The bank's gross income in the first six months of 2010 dropped by 12 pc against the same period a year earlier to EUR 210.4 M, mainly due to a decrease in income from treasury activity. Raiffeisen Bank's operational costs fell by 3.7 pc in EUR equivalent (RON-4.4 pc), while its staff expenses declined by 1 pc in EUR terms (RON -1.7pc). Return on equity after tax was 18.6 pc at 30 June 2010, compared to 20.8 pc at the same period in 2009.

Loans to customers during the first six months of 2010 stood at EUR 2.7 billion, up by 6.7 pc compared to the same period in 2009. At the same time, customer deposits exceeded EUR 3.4 billion, up by 5.2 pc compared to June 2009. Consequently, the bank's core business revenues increased, with a positive dynamic on net interest income (+11 pc) and a slight decrease in net commission income (-4.6 pc) compared to the end of June last year.

"I am satisfied we have again managed to achieve good results that are very close to the ones we posted last year, despite the fact that the economic situation in Romania has continued to worsen. The decrease in revenues was only due to trading activities, whereas the revenues from purely banking activities have slightly increased, which means that we performed very well in our core businesses," said Steven van Groningen, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank

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