Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Romania has returned to quarterly profit for the first time in three years. The Romanian subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo Group recorded a net profit of just over EUR 913,000 in Q1 2012, while in the same period last year the bank posted a nearly EUR 15 million loss.

Operating profit was up 50 percent year-on-year to some EUR 4.8 million. The return to profit was achieved via both an increase in revenues – up 6.2 percent to around EUR 12.5 million – and a 10 percent decrease in operational costs to under EUR 8 million.

“Last year we strategically decided to focus on portfolio cleaning and rationalization in preparation for the merger of our Group’s two Banks in Romania. This year our goal is rather to improve our commercial performance, through a balanced and healthy growth between deposits and loans,” said Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Ezio Salvai.

The bank has however cautioned that the positive results for the first quarter may not translate into profits for the whole year. However, there is cautious optimism among the CEO's comments and the retail banking figures. “Whilst the local business environment remains extremely difficult, with a large number of corporate insolvencies that will continue to affect all Romanian Banks’ performances, we are quite confident on the future, having adopted a long term strategy in this Country,” said the CEO. During March, the bank registered an almost 6 percent gross loan increase compared to March 2012, up to nearly EUR 911 million, customer deposits increased by 11 percent compared to March last year, up to some EUR 600 million, while total banking deposits increased by 3.7 percent. Intesa Sanpaolo Bank's net assets after provisions remained constant at around EUR 1.14 billion.

Intesa Sanpaolo has a selected presence in Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa with over 1,500 branches and 8.3 million customers operating in retail and commercial banking in 12 countries.

editor@romania-insider.com