Banca Transilvania sees net profit dropping 86 percent on increasing provisions

Romanian lender Banca Transilvania (BT) posted a gross operational profit of EUR 144 million last year, up 96 percent on the previous year, but its net profit slipped to EUR 14.6 million, the bank has announced. In 2008, the bank made a net profit of EUR 107.4 million. This was a drop of 86.4 percent on the 2008 results. BT saw its provisions more than triple last year, reaching EUR 178 million, according to the bank. The bank’s net cost of risk reached EUR 125 million last year. BT reported only 4.8 percent non-performing loans out of its total portfolio of loans of EUR 2.8 billion. With 58 percent of these loans covered by corporate customers and 41.5 percent on retail, BT reported an exposure of below 4 percent on real estate developers. Last year, Bank of Cyprus joined the existing BT shareholders, among which the European Bank for Reconstruction and development (EBRD) and the International Financial Corporation (IFC).