BCR, the largest lender in Romania based on its assets, reported a net profit of RON 252.7 million (EUR 54.3 million) for the first quarter of 2018.

The net result attributable to parent company Erste from the BCR Group was of EUR 42.4 million, up 15.2% compared to the EUR 36.8 million for the same period of 2017, according to Erste Group’s Interim Report for Q1.

The operating income increased by 11% to RON 766.9 million (EUR 164.8 million) from RON 691.1 million (EUR 152.8 million) in Q1 2017, driven by better net interest income, fee income and trading result. The operating result increased to RON 371.7 million (EUR 79.9 million), 10% higher than the previous year at RON 338 million (EUR 74.7 million), driven by improving operating income.

The net interest income increased by 7.8%, to RON 466.6 million (EUR 100.2 million), from RON 432.9 million (EUR 95.7 million) in Q1 2017, helped by a higher share of current accounts.

The net fee income advanced by 4.1%, to RON 171.2 million (EUR 36.7 million), from RON 164.4 million (EUR 36.3 million) in Q1 2017, on the back of higher fee income from transaction business, lending, as well as from brokerage.

The operating income increased by 11% to RON 766.9 million (EUR 164.8 million) from RON 691.1 million (EUR 152.8 million) in Q1 2017, driven by better net interest income, fee income and trading result.

The bank also recorded a steady advance of over 50% in retail new loans granted in Q1 2018 versus Q1 2017, covering more than a quarter of the newly originated mortgage loans in Romania. BCR generated new volume of loans of RON 1.79 billion in Q1 2018, with 24% increase in "Divers" cash loan and four-fold increase of sales in "Casa Mea" housing loan, compared to the same period of the last year.

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editor@romania-insider.com