Bank Austria Creditanstalt Romania last year registered 2.6 million euros in profit (63 billion lei), higher than the previous year’s net earnings worth 11,000 euros (253 million lei).
The bank’s management team admits that, although the economic background was quite difficult and competition in the banking system was tight, Bank Austria Creditanstalt Romania has gained an important market share in two years mainly due to the range of the products and services it offers.
“Slowly but steadily, we managed to gain a market share. We cannot overlook the fact that the economic background was not quite favourable, while competition has gradually increased.
However, we are satisfied with our activity and with the results we have posted. Moreover, the high-quality range of products and services we offered to our clients certainly had a large contribution,” Dan Pascariu, Bank Austria Creditanstalt Romania president, maintained.
As for last year’s results, the bank officials specify that Bank Austria Creditanstalt profit, seen in accordance with international accounting standards (IAS), was worth 63 billion lei (2.6 million euros). The bank registered 253 million lei (11,000 euros) in profit over the first operating year (1999).
The products’ high quality enabled the bank to increase the value of deposits attracted from clients by 127%, namely 3.77 billion lei (156 million euros).
According to the above-mentioned report, the bulk of these funds aimed at loaning. The volume of granted loans, seen in compliance with IAS standards, reached 2.164 billion lei (90 million euros) on December 31, 2000, against 599 million lei in 1999.
The bank managed about 7,400 banking accounts and had more than 5,000 legal persons as clients at the end of last year. Most indicators are estimated to increase by 25-30% this year.
“Bank Austria Creditanstalt is a success story in Central and Eastern Europe. The group’s financial results rose from one year to another and Romania contributed to this goal with significant profits.
Despite the difficulties we are facing, Romania is still an attractive market,” Cristoph Greussing, Bank Austria Creditanstalt Romania vice-president, said at the end of last week.