June 10 (SeeNews) - Romanian state-owned savings bank CEC said on Monday its gross profit soared to 432.97 million lei ($103.4 million/91.7 million euro) in 2018, compared to 222.7 million lei profit in the previous year.
This is CEC Bank's best financial results in 11 years which has become possible due to the implementation of planned strategies, the bank said in a press release.
"For 2019 we have proposed an increase in activity, especially in the lending area, with a significant positive impact on the bank's profitability and prudential indicators. At the end of April, the bank posted a gross profit of 153.2 million lei, significantly above targets," CEC Bank's general manager and chairman of the board of directors, Laurentiu Mitrache, said.
In 2018, the bank's loan portfolio grew by 5.34% to 7 billion lei compared to 2017, while its deposit portfolio expanded by 1.1%, CEC Bank said without disclosing the value of deposits.
The ratio of non-performing loans decreased to 6.01% at the end of 2018 from 9.1% a year earlier.
CEC Bank's market share in terms of assets declined from 7.41% at the end of 2017 to 6.51% at the end of 2018, but the bank says is is still among top 7 lenders in the Romanian banking system .
Founded in 1864 as Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (Deposits and Consignments House), it was reorganised in 1996 as a joint stock company with the finance ministry as its sole shareholder and was re-branded as CEC Bank in 2008.
(1 euro = 4.7182 lei)
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