BRD doubles its profit in H1 on provisions falling

Newsroom 01/08/2014 | 13:44

BRD doubled its profit in the first half of the year compared to the same period from 2013, from RON 62 million to RON 123 million, on account of provisions dropping by 25.3 percent. The bank also cut back on operational costs by 0.9 percent, although net banking revenues also decreased 8.6 percent to EUR 280 million, the bank announced on Friday.

“Net risk costs dropped by 25.3 percent in the first semester compared to H1-2013, reaching 289 base points (compared to 369 points in H1 2013)”, according to a press release from the bank.

BRD said its non-performing loans edged down to 23.4 percent in June from December’s 24.8, under international financial reporting standards. The rate was 20.4 percent under Romanian central bank rules, which BRD said was in line with the average of the banking system.

BRD’s operational profit fell by 15 percent, to some EUR 143 million and the bank’s net loan portfolio was EUR 6.13 billion at the end of June 2014, down 2 percent compared to December 2013 and more than 10 percent compared to June 2013. This was mainly due to the removal of non-performing loans for companies from the bank’s balance sheet.