May 25 (SeeNews) - The gross profit of ING Bank Romania fell by an annual 27% to 143 million lei ($32 million/29 million euro) in the first quarter of 2020, the lender said on Monday.
Although the first quarter was affected by the coronavirus crisis, sales were strong, ING Bank Romania said in a press release.
During January-March, the bank sold 52% more loans to individuals and 40% more mortgage loans compared to the same period last year.
ING Bank Romania's revenues grew 9% on the year to 533 million lei in January-March, while its operating costs rose by an annual 13% to 249 million lei due to added employees and salary increases.
Risk costs rose sharply to 118 million lei, as the bank had to set aside higher provisions due to a deteriorating macroeconomic scenario amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
The bank's loan portfolio increased 11% year-on-year to 28.9 billion lei in the first quarter, boosting the lender's market share to 10.1% from 10.5% at the end of March 2019.
Deposits grew 25% year-on-year to 39 billion lei in the first quarter, representing a market share of 9.9%, up from 9% at end-March 2019.
The NPL ratio was 3.6% at the end of the first quarter, slightly higher than 3.5% a year earlier.
The number of clients receiving recurring revenues in accounts at ING Bank Romania increased by 13% on the year to one million in the first quarter of 2020.
ING Bank Romania is a unit of Dutch banking group ING, which entered the Romanian market in 1994 and started developing its retail business in the country in 2004.
(1 euro=4.8396 lei)