May 6 (SeeNews) - Romanian bank BRD [BSE:BRD], part of France's Societe Generale group, said on Thursday that its first-quarter net profit fell by 6.5% year-on-year, to 218 million lei ($53 million/ 44 million euro).
The pressure on net interest income was compensated by a better performance of net fees and commissions and other banking revenues, the bank said in an unaudited financial report filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
"Despite the restrictive measures still in place to contain a third wave of the pandemic, BRD had a strong start of the year. The individuals’ loan production was significantly up and corporate lending was fueled by very dynamic SME financing," BRD CEO Francois Bloch said.
"As such, BRD delivered in the first three months of the year a performance proving the adaptability of its business model and the adequacy of the actions taken in response to the crisis," Bloch added.
BRD's non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio fell to 3.3% at the end of March, stable compared to end-March 2020. The coverage of NPLs with provisions was also stable to 73.3% in the first quarter. Cost of risk fell 6.6% on the year to a negative 43 million lei during January-March.
BRD’s net banking income jumped by an annual 74% to 75 million lei in the first quarter of 2021.
The bank's loan portfolio rose 1.8% the year to 30 billion lei in the review period, driven by sustained performance on both individuals and large corporate segments. Customer deposits increased 9.5% year-on-year to 51.6 billion lei at the end of March, mostly driven by household savings.
BRD's capital adequacy ratio was 31.6% on a standalone basis under Basel III regulations, well above the regulatory requirements of 10%. The bank's total assets rose to 63.2 billion lei at the end of March from 57 billion lei a year earlier.
At the end of March, the bank had 569 branches in Romania serving some 2.3 million customers.
Besides the bank, the BRD Group in Romania comprises BRD Sogelease IFN, BRD Finance IFN and BRD Asset Management SA.
The overall net profit of the BRD Group in the first quarter of 2021 was 222 million lei, down by 7.6% year-on-year. The group's total assets increased to 65.1 billion lei as of end-March, from 58.9 billion lei a year earlier.
In 2020, the bank's profit fell by an annual 37% to 951.6 million lei in 2020, influenced by a negative net cost of risk and deteriorated economic environment.
Blue-chip BRD traded 1.23% lower at 16.02 lei by 0959 CET on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, on Thursday.
(1 euro = 4.9254 Romanian lei)
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