Romania's BCR Bank Jan-Sept Cons Net Profit Falls 43.9% to 699.5 Mln Lei, or 166.1 Mln Euro

BCR's consolidated net profit in January-September fell on an annual basis mainly on higher provision expense and lower fee income due to lower consumer expenditure, the bank said in a statement.

BCR, Romania's top bank by assets, is majority owned by Austria's Erste Bank.

The bank's nine-month operating profit increased by 24.9% on the year to 2.223 billion lei, or 528 million euro, helped by a 12.5% rise in operating income to 3.493 billion lei. Operating expenses fell moderately by 4.2% year-on-year to 1.269 billion lei.

"While the operating result continues to be positively managed this is not sufficient to outweigh the growth in risk costs, where we are taking a prudent approach as the economic conditions remain difficult." BCR's CEO Dominic Bruynseels said in the same statement.

The conversion of the profit figures in euro was made at an exchange rate of 4.2112 Romanian lei per euro, the bank said in a statement. The bank’s results are reported under the international accounting standards, IFRS.