Romania's Banca Transilvania Confirms 9-mo Net Profit Triples to 396.62 Mln Lei (109 Mln Euro)

The final results match the preliminary figures released by the bank in early October.

The bank’s total assets rose to just under 16.47 billion lei at the end of September, up by 18.7% from the end of last year, figures from the bank’s financial statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, showed.

The bank opened 66 new branches in the nine-month period, bringing their total number to 521. It said earlier it expected its gross profit to fall by 25.6% to 300 million lei this year. It also said it would invest 36.8 million euro ($48.2 million) in 2008, including 18 million euro in its branch network.

Blue-chip Banca Transilvania's shares last traded on September 12, closing 0.38% up at 0.262 lei on the BVB, where it is listed. They are currently suspended from trading due to a capital hike.

(1 euro = 3.6357 Romanian lei)