August 16 (SeeNews) - Romania's Libra Internet Bank said on Thursday its first-half net profit doubled on the year, reaching 46.39 million lei ($11.3 million/9.9 million euro).
The strong rise was mainly driven by a significant growth of the loan portfolio and by optimization of operational expenses, the bank said in a press release.
Deposits grew to 4.39 billion lei, up 18% on the year, while loans increased to 2.49 billion lei, up 23%. The bank's bad loans ratio was 1.69% at the end of June, lower than 2.4% a year earlier and well below the average of 8.32% for the Romanian banking system.
"Our continued and sustained investments in service quality and technology innovation have enabled us to attract many new customers in the first half of the year and maintain a high growth rate across all our business lines," Libra Internet Bank general manager Emil Bituleanu said.
Libra also said it has maintained its market share at 1% at the end of June.
Libra Internet Bank has a network of 50 branches in Romania, serving mostly customers with liberal professions, SMEs, as well as corporate and agribusiness clients.
(1 euro=4.6586 Romanian lei)