Romanian lender Banca Comerciala Carpatica ended 2012 with a gross profit of EUR 6.8 million, according to the bank’s preliminary results. The net profit was EUR 5.6 million. At the end of 2011, the bank reported a loss of some EUR 8.8 million.

“The upward trend will also be maintained in 2013, with the strategy to consolidate the capital and to support the bank’s assets,” said Ion Dobrica, president of the bank.

Banca Carpatica also managed to increase its total assets by 23 percent in 2012, to over EUR 1 billion, while the financial assets available for sale were some EUR 581 million, 38 percent over the level in 2011. Banca Comerciala Carpatica’s balance of loans and receivables also went up by some 12 percent last year, and the deposits from non-bank customers grew 2.1 percent.

The net interest income had a year-on-year increase of 19.2 percent in 2012, to EUR 63 million, while the interest expenses went up 41.1 percent, to some EUR 44 million. The banks’ operating profit recorded at the end of the 2012 financial year was nine times higher compared to 2011.

New loans granted to SMEs and corporate clients totaled EUR 140 million last year - 84 percent higher than in 2011, while on the retail segment the lending activity remained stable at some EUR 13 million.

Banca Carpatica is majority owned Romanian investors Ilie Carabulea and Corneliu Tanase. At the end of 2012, the bank had 145 units across the country.

Romanian businessman Ilie Carabulea, the owner of Carpatica bank, was jailed in April 2012 for bribery and trading influence and released on parole after five months.

The businessman had resigned from the helm of local lender Banca Carpatica, which he also founded. He is the main shareholder of the bank, with 46 percent of the shares. At the time, it was the biggest corruption case involving a Romanian businessman, and concerns one of the country’s wealthiest: Carabulea

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)