BCR sees slight profit drop

The Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), the largest bank in the Romanian system, posted net profit of $160 million last year, slightly lower than in 2002, but “in line with the expected value,” according to the institution’s officials.

Profitability in the banking system dived last year, with bankers blaming the downward trend chiefly on the lower margins.

Without releasing many figures about last year’s operations, BCR’s public relation strategy now discloses, for the first time, the global achievements in the last four years, namely in the 2000-2003 period.

Therefore, the non-government loans granted by BCR increased almost five times in the 2000-2003 period. This index surged 60% last year, accounting for 81,400 billion ROL by the end of 2003, whereas the resources attracted from clients climbed some 20% in 2003 and almost four times in the 2000-2003 interval.

The number of BCR clients went up from 1.9 million in December 1999 to more than 3.9 million at the end of last year.

The bank has made investments worth some $50 million in the last four years to develop and upgrade the network of branches and the IT systems (cards included). The latest official figures show BCR banking assets to be worth 4,287 million euros at the end of September 2003.

BCR shareholders endorsed the strategy and the business plan for the 2004- 2007 period at the end of January 2004. The only amendments made under the circumstances stipulated “BCR would continue developing as a universal bank, dedicated to all clients. The bank would focus on improving efficiency and profitability, also striving to secure a healthy growth pace for the Group, by more than 7% every year.”
oana.nuta@zf.ro