Romanian lender BCR's housing bank BCR Banca pentru Locuinţe saw its assets go up by some 60 percent last year, to some EUR 337 million. Deposits were the bulk of this amount, some EUR 314 million, a 63 percent year-on-year increase. The bank's portfolio of clients went up from 250,000 from end 2011, to 304,000 at end 2012.

Loans used during 2012 went up 11 fold, a 20 percent monthly increase rate, amounting to some EUR 10.1 million, according to Carmen Schuster, vice president of BCR Banca pentru Locuinţe. The bank's total loans portfolio was of some EUR 11 million.

The portfolio of saving-lending contracts was up 20 percent, to some 304,000 contracts, and the average amount contracted by a client went up from RON 38,000 in 2011, to RON 41,000 in 2012 – or some EUR 9,200.

According to the bank's statistics, over 40 percent of Romanians saved in 2012, compared to 23 percent in 2010 and 36 percent in 2011. The average amounts saved went up from EUR 85 a month in 2010 to EUR 116 a month in 2012.

editor@romania-insider.com