Alpha Bank to see growth from retail, after 2009 stagnation

Alpha Bank, the fourth largest bank domestically in terms of assets, controlled by a top Greek financial group, is set to focus on retail lending this year, after stalling last year, with the volume of financing registering low variation. “We’re looking at 2010 with confidence and special attention will be granted to retail lending, for SMEs and for individuals. At the same time, we’ll focus on credit cards and mortgage loans,” says Sergiu Oprescu, chief executive of Alpha Bank. In 2010, the portfolio of loans aimed at individuals posted a marginal decline, to 1.12bn euros, from 1.14b euros, considering Alpha lowered its consumer lending exposure, but slightly raised mortgage exposure. Lending to companies, accounting for around three quarters of the overall portfolio, rose by 4%, to 3.14bn euros. Alpha Bank group for 2009 reported gross income worth 50.7m euros from the operations carried out in Romania. The profit is 10% higher than the 2008 one. The weight of bad loans climbed to 2.6% in the overall portfolio in late 2009, from 0.5% in December 2008. The level is considerably lower than the average of the Romanian market, of almost 12%, according to NBR data.