Bancpost makes 8.3m-euro profit in Q1

Bancpost, the number-eight bank on the market, made 8.3 million euros in net profit in the first quarter, up 47% on the same time last year. On March 31 the bank had registered assets of around 1.24bn euros, an increase of more than 75% compared with March 2004. The figures released show the first quarter to have been very good for Bancpost, as for many other banks, which also announced high rates of growth in profits – as high as 90% for BRD and 160% for HVB Bank. The main drive behind the growth in Bancposta??s assets was lending, with the total volume of credits granted this year until the end of March increasing by 62% to 556.1 million euros. The fastest growing type of loans was that aimed at corporate clients, which rose 83% on the first quarter of 2004. In absolute terms, these amounted to 275.4 million euros on March 31 2005. The volume of loans to private customers also rose to 280.6 million euros, 43% on Q1 2004. ZF