CEC expects 12m euro net profit

Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (Romanian Savings Bank – CEC) estimates to conclude next year with the same net profit as this year, i.e. more than 500bn ROL (12 million euros). At the same time, CEC will move on with the restructuring process that will primarily target personnel cutbacks, closing non-profitable offices, as well as a compensation plan that will make sure every branch manager gets paid in line with the amount of profit that branch makes. “CEC estimated about 170bn ROL net profit in its 2003 S&R budget, but the results so far show this indicator will be 250% higher than initially estimated and about 300% higher than the 2002 figures,” said Constantin Teculescu, CEC’s chairman. CEC logged 441.6bn ROL net profit for the first ten months this year, while the gross profit was worth 533.8bn ROL. “The causes that led to results higher than estimated are the growth in the volume of credits granted to consumers and SMEs, as the share of such loans has increased from 5% to 18% in the total assets, a more realistic policy regarding interests on deposits and loans and the depositing of part of the attracted funds with the National Bank of Romania, which generated higher revenues in form of interests paid,” CEC’s chairman explained. ZF