BCR posted total loans worth RON 45.8 billion (some €10.8 bln, computed at an average RON 4.2292/€1exchange rate) at the end of the first half of 2009, of which RON 2.8 bln (some €0.66 bln) were NPLs. At the end of September, the loan portfolio was worth RON 45.9 bln (some €10.85 bln, at an average RON 4.2277/€1exchange rate) of which NPLs made up RON 4.9 bln (some €1.1 bln). “In the third quarter, nonperforming loans were mainly affected by the SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] segment and real estate business projects, on which BCR has little exposure compared to the market,” according to a statement by the bank. Meanwhile, BCR indicated that it registers “a comfortable nonperforming loan coverage rate, through collaterals and provisions, of some 120 percent.”
The NPL ratio posted by BCR at the end of September is the second-highest level among Erste’s subsidiaries, after that registered in Ukraine. The net risk costs surged 90 percent in the second quarter alone, to RON 1.48 bln, from RON 783 mln. “We noticed in the retail loan portfolio in Romania a relaxation of arrears, due to the stability of the currency. We expect this trend to continue, because we believe the leu will remain stable at this level in the coming quarters,” Erste Group’s Risk Manager, Bernhard Spalt, said in a recording published on the Austrian bank’s Web site.
“Romania is a special case among countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This state’s level of indebtedness is very low, and could attract an incredible quantity of funds to counter the crisis, but politically, it just cannot clean up its own backyard,” Erste Group’s Chairman of the Management Board, Andreas Treichl, said during the press conference in which he recently presented the financial results of Austrian Erste Bank.
