UniCredit Tiriac Bank 9-month net profit up 18.4 percent to RON 147 mln on higher SME lending

The net profit of UniCredit Tiriac Bank has moved up by 18.4 percent to RON 166.8 million (EUR 33.1 million) in the first nine months, sustained by intensified lending in the SME sector and lower loan provisioning.

The third quarter net profit amounted to RON 71.8 million (EUR 15.8 million), which was close to the profit registered in the first semester of last year.

The banking revenue fell by 1.3 percent to RON 906 million (EUR 204 million) by September. The lender grappled with growing costs on financing and deposits. UniCredit’s operational expenses rose by 3.5 percent to RON 471 million (EUR 106.3 million). The lender lowered the provisioning by 19.4 percent, due to an improved loan book. The cost to income ratio reached 52 percent.

“The difficult European economic context and the dynamics of the specific factors locally couldn’t bring a positive contribution to economic growth in the third quarter or shift the current trend. The margins remained low and the measures for improving efficiency and optimization continued,” said Rasvan Radu, CEO of UniCredit Tiriac Bank

“Despite all this, we achieved a positive result, with a good level of liquidity, a healthy capital margin and volume growth, holding a favorable position on the market, and most importantly, we continued to credit the economy.”

The loan book expanded by 17 percent to RON 17.6 billion (EUR 3.9 billion) or to RON 20.6 billion (EUR 4.6 billion), if externalized loans are taken into account. Lending to small companies rose by 41 percent and that of medium enterprises by 21 percent.

The customer deposits soared by a quarter to RON 12.4 billion (EUR 2.8 billion). The loan to deposit ratio fell by 14 percent to 142 percent.