Raiffeisen Bank Romania's net profit grows 35% in 2023

Profit growth came as a result of increased interest revenues and better performance of transactional fees as well as disciplined customers who continued to pay their instalments, keeping the ratio of non-performing loans below market average, the lender said in an audited financial report filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The bank's operating income increased to 3.881 billion lei last year from 3.301 billion lei in 2022. Operating expenses also rose, expanding to 980.6 million lei from 895.9 million lei.

Raiffeisen Bank Romania's net interest income rose to 2.821 billion lei last year from 2.4 billion lei in 2022, while its net fee and commission income increased to 602 million lei from 559 million lei.

Last year, total loans and advances to customers amounted to 41.813 billion lei, while deposits from customers totalled 54.4 billion lei.

Corporate loans increased by 8% on the year in 2023, thanks to Raiffeisen Bank's active involvement in renewables and energy efficiency projects, it said.

Loans to SMEs grew by 7% year-on-year, with government programmes such as IMM Invest being a factor for this growth. Raiffeisen Bank Romania stated that last year it received record guarantees of 650 million euro from the European Investment Bank, which it will use to finance SMEs in the following years.

At end-2023, the lender owned total assets worth 70.778 billion lei, while its total liabilities amounted to 63.15 billion lei.

Austria-based Raiffeisen Bank has been active on the Romanian market for over 25 years. It serves almost 2.3 million clients in the country and currently employs 4,906 people across 284 units.

(1 euro = 4.9711 lei)