With more clients and falling loans Piraeus preserves profit

Piraeus Bank, the domestic subsidiary of a top Greek financial group, last year generated 25m-euro gross income, flat from 2009.

The Greeks managed to preserve profit by boosting the number of clients, a strategy it had announced as early as 2009, while loan portfolio deterioration deepened, with the weight of bad loans climbing to 10.8% from 5.8% in December 2009. The figures are calculated in line with IFRS, being consolidated for Piraeus’ all domestic operations.

“During this interval, the bank’s number of clients rose by 5%, while deposits advanced by 2% and the loan volume posted a slight decline amid the gap between loans paid back by clients and released ones,” stated Cătălin Pârvu, a general executive manager with Piraeus Bank.

The loan portfolio slid by 6% last year, to 3.2bn euros. Risk charges climbed to 4.3% in Romania last year, from 3.6% in 2009.

The Romanian subsidiary last year generated the highest operating income among Piraeus’ foreign subsidiaries, of 191m euros.