One of the major Romanian lenders Raiffeisen Bank has announced after-tax profits of EUR 88 million in 2012. Profits in 2011 after tax were EUR 8 million higher – EUR 96 million. The bank's total assets were worth EUR 5.31 billion at the end of last year, a 4 percent decrease compared to the EUR 5.52 billion recorded at end-2011.

Total loans remained at a similar level to 2011: EUR 3.52 billion in 2012 against EUR 3.53 billion in the previous year. However, the non-performing loan ratio rose to 7.2 percent from 6.4 percent in 2011. Last year, the loan/deposit ratio increased slightly to 92 percent from 89 percent in 2011. Net provisioning for impairment losses increased to EUR 78 million, from EUR 48 million in 2011, according to the bank.

“Total capital ratio of 13.5 percent indicates healthy liquidity and strong capitalization,” according to the bank. Raiffeisen also improved efficiency, reducing costs by 8 percent and the cost/income ratio improved to 59 percent from 63 percent at end-2011.

“I am pleased that we ended another year with very good results, thereby proving the strength of our business model in an environment which has been difficult for many years,” said Raiffeisen Bank President and CEO Steven van Groningen. Looking forward to the rest of this year, the CEO added, “A strict control of costs and risks as well as further improvements in efficiency will remain our priorities in 2013.”

Raiffeisen Bank increased its customer base by 60,000 in 2012, reaching approximately 2 million individuals, 105,000 SMEs and 7,500 companies. At the end of 2012, Raiffeisen Bank’s network included 525 units, down from 543 in 2011. As of December 31, 2012, the bank had 5,361 employees, against 5,911 a year earlier.

Raiffeisen Bank S.A. is a universal bank that provides the complete range of products and services to individuals, SMEs and corporations. Vienna-based Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) owns 99,49 percent of Raiffeisen Bank’s shares. The group regards Austria and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as its home market. In CEE, RBI operates an extensive network of subsidiary banks, leasing companies and a range of other specialized financial service providers in 17 markets.

editor@romania-insider.com