In the first half of 2019, Banca Transilvania continued to support the Romanian economy, entrepreneurs and individuals, while also leading on digitalization and customer experience.

BT has 64.07% Romanian capital, over 30,000 direct individual shareholders and more than 7 million indirect shareholders via pension funds.

For January–June this year, Banca Transilvania stands out especially through strong lending growth, with over 100,000 loans granted to companies and individuals. Corporate loans over the period exceeded 4.7 billion lei. BT Financial Group’s assets reached 81.6 billion lei at the end of the half-year, loans increased to 39.3 billion lei, and customer deposits rose to 67.4 billion lei, of which 47.2 billion lei are individuals’ savings and 20.2 billion lei are corporate deposits.

The Group’s consolidated net profit is 942.36 million lei, of which the bank’s net profit is 848.00 million lei, reflecting efficiency gains and business consolidation. Subsidiaries and equity participations contributed over 94 million lei to BT Group’s profitability. Operating efficiency remains at a comfortable level, at 45.87%.

“It was a dynamic period with growing volumes, which allowed us to generate solid revenues in the context of lower fees. The pace of growth in deposits, loans and transactions shows the confidence of individual and SME clients in BT. The first-half results lay the groundwork for the major plans we have for the period ahead.”  -  said Ömer Tetik, Chief Executive Officer, Banca Transilvania.

BT’s asset tax for the first half of this year is 90,502 thousand lei, and the bank will pay it by August 25 this year; it will then be settled by August 25, 2020 based on the amount resulting from calculating the tax for the full year. Based on the preliminary asset tax level calculated at the reference date of June 30, 2019 and on a proportional calculation, if BT were to recognize the effect of this tax for the six-month period ended June 30, 2019, net profit at that date would come to 809.98 million lei, from 848.00 million lei.

Supporting entrepreneurs and individuals, and advancing the digital strategy:

• The mortgage/real estate loan book stands at over 11 billion lei.
• The SME loan portfolio (under the European definition of SMEs) is ≈16 billion lei.
• BT has 3.9 million cards in its portfolio and a 22% market share of cards issued in Romania.
• ≈130 million transactions were carried out in the first half of 2019 with BT cards.
• The number of transactions made with cards and payment accessories (the BT Pay wallet, watch, bracelet and contactless sticker) is up 46% versus the same period last year.
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• The BT Pay app has over 300,000 users; transfers from BT Pay to other app users based on the phone number in the contacts list, and by IBAN to customers of other banks, are up 170% (June this year vs December 2018). The number of payments with BT Pay doubled in the first half of the year.
• Nearly 3 million cash deposits were made at multifunctional ATMs in the first half of the year, i.e. ≈500,000 per month.
• Over 1.2 million people use BT24 Internet Banking and 750,000 use BT24 Mobile Banking.
• BT is among the first banks in Romania to offer Apple Pay to its customers, and adoption has been very strong.
• Also in digital, BT announced together with an international fintech the launch of the BT Visual Help app, through which customers can manage their cards easily, 24/7 and free of charge, by phone; the launch of BT Open Banking (BT Api Store), which enables fintechs and other technology companies to test integration with BT; and a pioneering step on Instant Payments by joining the service of the same name, which ensures 24/7 transfer of funds (lei) in under 10 seconds between participating banks.

The non-performing exposure ratio, per the EBA indicator, was 4.65% at June 30, 2019. Coverage of non-performing exposures under EBA standards is 96% with total provisions; including collateral, coverage is 126%. The bank’s solvency ratio is 18.63% excluding 2019 profit and 20.53% with profit included. In January this year, Fitch Ratings affirmed Banca Transilvania’s long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BB+’, with a Stable Outlook, and the Viability Rating (VR) at ‘bb+’, the latter reflecting the bank’s stable financial profile, asset quality, strong capitalization and comfortable liquidity.

BT Financial Group in the first half of the year:

• BT Financial Group’s loan book increased by 4% versus the end of last year.

• More than 14,000 loans were granted by BT Group companies in the first half of 2019, totaling 480 million lei.

• BT Capital Partners advised on the completion of two transactions significant for the Romanian economy, in agribusiness and tourism, for Eurolines and Brise Group.
• 2,600 leasing contracts were signed in the first six months of this year, with a value of 405 million lei.
• Over 330,000 cards were in the portfolio of Victoriabank (Republic of Moldova) at the end of the first half of 2019.

BT Direct and ERB Retail Services, both consumer lending institutions, became a single company on August 1 this year. BTD now has over 200,000 customers and 150,000 credit cards.

BT’s priorities through year‑end:

NEO, the new Internet and Mobile Banking platform, is in final testing with live users, and a private beta will be launched for a subset of customers in the near future. In terms of usability it will be comparable to fintech apps, while in terms of functionality it will bring a unique banking experience to the Romanian market.

BT will continue to support SMEs and individuals with financing. Across BT Financial Group, the focus for customers will be on streamlining and consolidating the business.

The H1 2019 report, prepared in accordance with the provisions of Article 65 of Law no. 24 of 2017 on issuers of financial instruments and market operations, is available on BT’s website, in the Investor Relations section, on August 14 this year, starting at 9:00. The financial statements as at June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018 are reviewed; those as at December 31, 208 are audited.