Raiffeisen Bank Romania recorded EUR 30 million after-tax profits in the first quarter this year, down by EUR 1 million, or 3.1 percent, on Q1 2012. Meanwhile, the bank's assets climbed slightly year-on-year by 1.7 percent to reach EUR 6.73 billion at the end of Q1 2013, according to data from its parent bank.

Operating income was EUR 115 million, again down on the EUR 119 million in Q1 2012, while the operating result was EUR 51 million, EUR 1 million lower than in the first quarter last year. Net provisioning for impairment losses was lower in the first quarter of this than in 2012, EUR 21 million in Q1 2013 against EUR 27 million last year.

Total loans fell slightly, from EUR 4.33 billion in Q1 2012 to EUR 4.19 billion this year. Corporate loans accounted for 34.6 percent of the total, from 36.5 percent last year. Retail loans accounted for 62.6 percent of the total, up 1.1 percent points on last year. Total customer deposits rose from under EUR 3.9 billion in Q1 2012 to just short of EUR 4 billion this year. The loan to deposit ratio fell 7.1 percentage points to 105 percent in Q1 2013.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania reduced both the number of employees and the number of branches from last year. Raiffeisen currently has 5,393 employees, some 500 less than last year, while the number of outlets in Romania has fallen from 540 in Q1 2012 to 526 this year. The total number of customers is up by around 50,000 to 1,981,086.

At a group level, Raiffeisen Bank International's pre-tax profits fell by 63.4 per cent to EUR 251 million in Q1 2013, from EUR 685 million this year. Consolidated profit dropped by 71.0 per cent to EUR 157 million from some EUR 541 million in Q1 2012.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania ended 2012 with a net profit of EUR 88 million,which was the highest profit on the Romanian banking market. End – 2012, it had a network of 525 units, and over 1,100 ATMs.

Vienna-based Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) owns 99,49 percent of Raiffeisen Romania'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