ING Bank Romania gross profit gains 44 pct to RON 565 mln over higher lending

ING Bank Romania said that its gross profit rose by 44 percent last year to RON 565 million compared to the previous year due to an increase of lending activity and the one-off sale of its stake in Visa Europe.

The revenues of the bank rose by 29 percent to RON 1.2 billion, while the expenses rose by 16 percent to RON 665 million, due to additional investments in the IT infrastructure.

The risk costs of the lender rose from RON 55 million to RON 92 million, while the rate of non-performing loans fell from 4.3 percent to 3.6 percent year-on-year. The cost-to-income ratio fell to 50 percent.

ING’s loan book rose by RON 3.1 billion to RON 17.6 billion, holding a market share of 7.7 percent, from 6.3 percent in the previous year.

Lending to retail clients rose by 36 percent to RON 9.1 billion, while in the small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) segment, lending went up by 50 percent.

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The deposits attracted from customers gained 20 percent to RON 22.3 billion.

ING said that it reached one million retail clients, after adding 270,000 new customers last year. In the SMEs segment, the number of clients rose by 23 percent to 10,000.

Michal Szczurek, CEO ING Bank Romania, said that the investments in the digital operations helped the bank reach the 1 million milestone in the retail segment.

ING Group, the parent of ING Bank Romania, recorded a net profit of EUR 4.9 billion, up 18 percent y/y.