Romanian lender BCR, part of Austrian Erste Group, reported higher revenues and operating profits in the first half of this year.

The bottom line, however, indicated EUR 24 million losses in the period due to EUR 150 million provisions after the Supreme Court ruled against the group’s savings and mortgage lending division.

BCR Group posted an operating profit of EUR 149 million, 8.9% higher than in the same period last year thanks to the 7.5% year-on-year advance in revenues, to EUR 332 mln. The robust operational results were supported by the active lending policy pursued by BCR. Its stock of loans increased by 8% year-on-year at the end of June (or by some 6% year-on-year when expressed in euro), slightly more than the market’s 7.1% average.

“Sergiu Manea (CEO of BCR) has done a very good job, the bank has excellent operational results,” Erste Bank Group’s CEO Andreas Treichl said in Vienna during the press conference in which he presented Erste’s financial results for H1, 2019.

Erste Group reported a net profit of EUR 732 million in the first half, down by 5% compared to the same period of 2018, mainly due to the EUR 150 million one-off charge in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com

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