Rekkers, BT: Aggressive provisioning policy has borne fruit

From the eighth position in the 2009 ranking of the biggest banks on the market, Banca Transilvania (BT) climbed onto the fourth according to September 30 data, expanding its market share from 5.9% to 6.2%.
“The fourth position on the banking market stands proof our policy of continuing to grant loans releasing loans has borne fruit. (…),” stated Robbert Rekkers, general manager of BT, in an interview with ZF.
After the first nine months, the bank reported an 8% increase in the volume of loans from the end of 2009, clearly above the market average. However, the target set at the start of the year was much more ambitious, pointing to a 17% increase.
“Such an increase is not achievable. It is hard to reach two-digit growth as there is not sufficient demand, and many clients no longer qualify for a loan. For the fourth quarter, I do not expect any spectacular leap, but we will maintain the upward trend. We’ll end the year higher both in term of loans and deposits”.
Rekkers maintains the loan portfolio increase did not come at the cost of some risks leading to deep loan portfolio quality deterioration and at any rate the bank has had an aggressive provisioning policy over the past two years.