Bancpost makes 12m-euro profit in nine months

Bancpost posted nine-month profits of 12 million euros, with the total assets of the bank coming to 1.5bn euros at the end of September. This figure is about twice that registered a year ago.

“Although the bank witnessed a fast-paced growth between January and September, we are worried about the last three months for two reasons. First of all, we will no longer be able to grant loans in foreign currency, because we are not within the 3 to 1 ratio set by the NBR”s guidelines. We are forced to fly with one wing. On the other hand, the regulations of the central bank will affect us in terms of profitability, as three quarters of the net profit for the first nine months will vanish as a result of us making the necessary provisions,” Mihai Bogza, the chairman of Bancpost, told the Euromoney SE European Forum organised in Croatia. The value of the credits granted by the bank stands at 700 million euros.

Bogza mentioned that Bancpost intendeds to attain a market share over the next three or four years that would enable it to reach the third position in the banking system in Romania.

“Just like all banks, our goal is securing as high a market share as possible, through a healthy growth, sustained by a very thorough restructuring programme. Efforts have been channelled to the transfer of IT systems and to making networks efficient. Now that the restructuring process is in an advanced stage, we can concentrate again on growth,” Bogza said.

Greek Eurobank, the main shareholder in Bancpost, intends to buy the stakes held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the Romanian bank, in 2006, Bogza said.

EBRD and IFC hold a total 7.28% in Bancpost.

Other shareholders are SIF Banat-Crisana, SIF Moldova, SIF Transilvania and SIF Oltenia, each of which owns 5.13%.

Eurobank bought a stake in Bancpost in 2000, and has become the bank”s majority shareholder in the meantime. It now holds nearly 63%, since the shareholders in August endorsed the completion of the acquisition of 7.48% from General Electric Capital.