May 12 (SeeNews) - Romanian bank BRD [BSE:BRD], part of France's Societe Generale group, said on Friday that its first-quarter net profit rose 35% year-on-year, to 333 million lei ($73.6 million/67.5 million euro).
BRD's net banking income reached 893 million lei in the first three months of 2023, up 17% on the year, the bank said in an unaudited financial report filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
The lender's performance was sustained by a higher net interest income and continued excellent momentum on financial markets.
"First quarter financial results reflected the strong momentum, with high growth of revenues while operating expenses evolution was contained visibly below inflation level," CEO Francois Bloch said.
The bank's operating expenses grew by 11.2% on the year to 487 million lei.
BRD's non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio fell to 2.6% at the end of the first three months of 2023, from 2.7% at end-March 2022. The coverage of NPLs with provisions remained high at 77.4% in the first quarter. Cost of risk fell 77.3% on the year to 7 million lei during January-March, backed by a stable portfolio evolution and good recovery performance.
The bank's loan portfolio expanded by 11.2% the year to 36.4 billion lei in the review period, driven by good performance on both individuals and large corporate segments. Customer deposits increased 4.3% year-on-year to 55.8 billion lei at the end of March, mostly driven by household savings and an increase of leu-denominated resources from large corporates.
BRD's capital adequacy ratio was 21.9% at end-March, well above regulatory requirements and the year-ago ratio of 21.5%.
The bank's total inched down by an annual 0.8% to 70.5 billion lei at the end of March, while its liabilities edged down by 0.5% on the year to 63.3 billion lei.
At the end of March, the bank had 451 branches in Romania, down by 48 on the year.
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 2023amounted to 342 million lei, up by 30% year-on-year. The group's total assets edged down to 72,8 billion lei as of end-March, from 73.1 billion lei a year earlier.
The bank's net profit increased by an annual 0.5% in 2022, reaching 1.286 billion lei.
Blue-chip BRD traded flat at 12 lei by 1608 CET on Friday.
(1 euro = 4.9324 Romanian lei)
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