February 14 (SeeNews) - Romanian state-owned savings bank CEC said on Monday its net profit rose to 355 million lei ($81 million/72 million euro) in 2021, compared to 337.7 million lei profit in the previous year.
During 2021, CEC Bank managed to attract a record 135,000 new customers, it said in a press release.
Net interest income amounted to 1.1 billion lei and remained stable compared to last year, given that in the first nine months of 2021, in the banking market, rates were at an all-time low, and the trend of rising interest rates was felt only in the fourth trimester, the bank said. Net commission income rose by an annual 11.4% to 297.5 million lei in 2021, in line with the bank's strategy to diversify its income sources.
The bank's assets rose by 22.7% in 2021, exceeding 50 billion lei.
CEC Bank's loans granted to customers increased by an annual 17% in 2021 to 26.9 billion lei, while deposits increased by an annual 20.8% to 41.9 billion lei.
The loan portfolio remained healthy and the non-performing loan ratio stood at 5.28%, slightly down from 5.52% at the end of 2020.
In 2021, CEC Bank granted 6,700 new mortgage loans worth over 1.7 billion lei, up 53% compared to 2020. Also, about 850 loans worth over 3.3 billion lei were granted for investments, an increase of 133% compared to 2020.
"The journey continues and, in 2022, we have equally ambitious plans for transformation: we will bring new online products and we will continue to develop our hybrid business model, which serves both rural, undigitalized Romania as well as modern-digital customers," CEC Bank president Bogdan Neacsu said.
In December 2021, CEC Bank received a 1.4 billion lei subordinated loan from the finance ministry, as part of the obligations assumed under a business plan that was the basis for a 200 million euro ($226 million) increase of the share capital of CEC Bank, approved by the European Commission (EC) at the end of 2019.
(1 euro=4.9455 lei)
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