How large banks withstood the crisis

After two years of crisis, with vacillations between impact denying and then a pessimism permeating the entire economy, changes in banks’ ranking are starting to ever more clearly reflect the differences in terms of business model soundness and viability, of long-term strategies for the domestic market, as well as risk management efficiency.
The image is even more relevant when looking at profits and losses registered in Romanian accounting standards (RAS): banks that were highly aggressive until the onset of the crisis, such as Volksbank, or with oscillating strategies, such as Bancpost, are now the hardest hit.
BCR, market leader in terms of assets, is considerably ahead of BRD, ranking second in terms of assets, but its profit has been seriously hurt by the crisis.
Formerly filling the 3rd position in terms of assets until the first half of 2008, Austria’s Raiffeisen was initially left behind by Volksbank, but is saying today it has no regrets. Raiffeisen is still ranking 7th, as at the end of 2009, but after the first nine months reported the second biggest income in RAS on the market, after BRD.
The bank now ranking 3rd, Greece’s Alpha Bank, saw its late 2009 market share stay flat, at 6.4%.
In several cases, banks that managed to boost lending substantially above the market average, climbed in the ranking. Thus, Banca Transilvania rose to the 4th position, and Italy’s UniCredit on the 5th.