Romania's largest lender BCR Group posted a net profit of EUR 127 million in the first nine months of 2013, bouncing back after a loss of EUR 172 million in the first three quarters of 2012.

The result was achieved “on the back of good operating result offsetting still elevated risk costs, also accounting for a positive one-off effect from the release of deferred tax liabilities of EUR 127.7 million in Q2 2013,” according to BCR.

The lender, majority owned by Austrian Erste Bank, managed to reduce its risk provisions for loans and advances by some 38 percent, to some EUR 371 million, due to a lower non-performing loan inflows (NPL) ratio.

BCR's NPL ratio slightly rose to 29.6 percent of the total loan portfolio as of 30 September 2013, due to further contraction of the loan book.

The bank's loans to customers, before provisions, were down 8.2 percent, to some EUR 10.9 billion, and in the future BCR plans to focus on lending in RON.

Meanwhile, deposits also slightly decreased, by 1.6 percent, to some EUR 8.3 billion, remaining the bank's main funding source, along with the support of its parent bank.

BCR maintained leading market share by assets, despite a decline in total assets by 7 percent to the equivalent of EUR 15.2 billion.

“Our turnaround efforts become visible with large scale business restructuring completed, NPL stock declining for the first time since 2008 and rebalancing of the loan book towards local currency well underway,” said Tomas Spurny, the CEO of BCR.

"Under the conditions of a stable and predictable environment, we will increasingly be able to focus on healthy growth, searching for symmetry of risk and return."

editor@romania-insider.com