UniCredit Tiriac net profit up 48% to 79m euros

UniCredit Tiriac, the local branch of the largest Italian financial group, posted net profit worth 79 million euros last year, up 48% on 2006. Converted in RON, the net profit stood at 263.1 million RON, an over 50% rise on 2006. In a report to investors, Alessandro Profumo (photo), CEO of the UniCredit group, said the Romanian branch posted revenues worth 268 million euros in 2007, up 14% on 2006. “The 14% rise comes as a result of the increase in the margin, and in the profit derived from trading operations,” states Profumo. UniCredit Tiriac Bank launched operations mid-last year, after the consolidation process of HVB, Banca Tiriac and UniCredit Romania ended. The newly created bank is coordinated by Bank Austria, a subsidiary of the UniCredit group, which supervises the Central and Eastern European branches. According to the financial report published yesterday by Bank Austria, UniCredit Tiriac posted gross profit worth 314 million RON (equivalent to slightly more than 94 million euros). Calculated in RON, the profit increase stood at 63%. In comparison, BCR – the largest financial group in Romania – reported net consolidated profit worth 276.5 million euros, while its assets were worth 17.5 billion euros. “Asset profitability, effectiveness and quality increased above the Romanian market average: ROE (Return on Equity) exceeded 20%, the cost/revenue ratio was below 54%, and the non-performing loan ratio stayed under 2%,” Bank Austria also revealed.