November 13 (SeeNews) - Romania's Libra Internet Bank said on Wednesday its January-September net profit rose by 21% on the year to 91 million lei ($21 million/19 million euro).
The strong rise was mainly driven by a significant growth of the loan portfolio, the bank said in a press release.
Libra Internet Bank's assets edged up 5% on the year to 5.46 billion lei as at end-September.
Loan portfolio increased to 3.96 billion lei in the first nine months, up 22% year-on-year. The bank's bad loan ratio was 2.21% at the end of September, higher than 1.76% a year earlier, but well below the end-August average of 4.56% for the Romanian banking system.
"Our niche approach works. After the end of the third quarter, I can say that there are very high chances to significantly exceed the profit target for 2019," Libra Internet Bank general manager Emil Bituleanu said.
The bank aims to reach a 95 million lei profit this year, the general manager added.
Libra Internet Bank has a network of 53 branches in Romania, serving mostly customers with liberal professions, SMEs, as well as corporate and agribusiness clients.
The bank, a member of US-based investment group New Century Holdings since 2003, operates three IT centres in Romania - in Bucharest, Craiova and Cluj-Napoca.
(1 euro=4.7635 Romanian lei)