AT THE END OF Q1 2010, Piraeus Bank Romania sees a gross profit of EUR 10.3 million

• Assets of "Piraeus Bank" Romania increased 2%, exceeding 2 billion Euros

"Piraeus Bank" Romania ended the first quarter of 2010 with a gross profit of EUR 10.3 million, a significant increase over last year"s similar period, according to the press release.

"The assets the bank had under management at the end of March rose 2% YOY, exceeding EUR 2 billion", the press release mentioned.

Bank officials say that in spite of the economic difficulties faced by depositors, the volume of loans attracted increased 7% YOY in Q1 2010, exceeding EUR 1.19 billion.

At the same time, the volume of loans managed by "Piraeus Bank" Romania had a slight drop of 1% YOY, at the end of March 31st, 2010, due to shrinking consumption appetite among customers. The value of the loan portfolio continued to hover around EUR 1.6 billion, with an adequate level of loan loss provisions.

"In spite of a decrease of the total loan portfolio, the bank had a growth of 3% on the corporate loan segment", bank officials say.

They also said that at the end of Q1 2010, the number of cards issued by "Piraeus Bank" Romania had increased 12% YOY, to 102,498 units.

The bank"s branch network expanded 2% YOY, reaching 187 branches, while the number of ATMs increased 8% YOY at the end of Q1 2010, to 256 ATMs.

The bank"s Return on Equity (RoE) stood at a comfortable 13.3%, in Q1 2010, whereas the cost-revenue ratio reached the optimum level of 38.2%.

"Amid the current economic realities, the weight of non-performing loans in the bank"s portfolio increased to 6.7%, remaining below the market average", bank officials say.

Cătălin Pârvu, general executive manager of "Piraeus Bank" Romania said that the bank"s results come on the back of the bank"s experience accumulated in almost 100 years. "Thanks to our banking experience we have learned to efficiently manage our business in periods of growth as well in during times of economic recession, as proven by the evolution of the bank on the Romanian market", said Cătălin Pârvu. He reminded that ten years ago, when the bank entered the Romanian market, it had two branches and 25,000 customers, whereas it now has 187 branches and over 300,000 customers.