Ömer Tetik, CEO, Banca Transilvania:

"BT was firing on all cylinders in the first quarter,

as shown by the record number of loans we extended."

• Almost 48,000 loans were granted in the first three months of the year, totaling 3,947 million lei. Of these, 45,700 were to individuals — for housing and personal needs.
• 3.1 million retail customers bank with BT, along with 352,000 SME & Micro customers and over 10,600 corporate clients.
• 1.9 million customers are digitally active, of whom over 1.2 million use BT Pay, up 79% versus Q1 2020.
• The number of payments by phone doubled in Q1 2021 compared to the same period last year, reaching 12.3 million.
• The number of online card transactions rose 64% in Q1 2021 versus Q1 2020.
• 70.64% of the bank’s shareholding is Romanian-owned, with over 33,000 Romanian individual shareholders.
• BT continued the branch network modernization plan in the first part of the year as well, at a pace of one branch per week.

Banca Transilvania’s results for the first three months of the year are encouraging and a sign of the Romanian economy’s recovery after the challenges of 2020.

Banca Transilvania Financial Group’s assets reached 110.9 billion lei at the end of the first quarter, and loans increased to 43.09 billion lei. Customer deposits stood at 93.19 billion lei: of these, 64.22 billion lei are individuals’ savings and 28.96 billion lei are corporate deposits.

The Banca Transilvania Financial Group’s consolidated net profit is 656.33 million lei, of which the bank’s is 581.26 million lei. Subsidiaries and equity investments contributed approximately 75 million lei to BT Group’s profitability. The bank’s cost-to-income ratio reached 45.61%, calculated including the annualised impact of contributions to the Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund and the Resolution Fund.

"We are seeing encouraging signs; the Romanian economy recovered well in the first three months of the year, but the challenges are not over. We now depend on the pace of vaccination as well as travel and consumption restrictions in other European countries and around the world, and the speed of the recovery will be directly correlated with that of the major economies in the European Union. We are optimistic, but we remain vigilant and close to customers with loans and to those who need financing to support their businesses, consumption and the economy. Banca Transilvania was firing on all cylinders in the first three months of the year, as shown by the record number of loans granted," said Ömer Tetik, CEO, Banca Transilvania.

The NPE ratio under the EBA definition was 3.73% as at March 31, 2021. Coverage of non-performing exposures with total provisions under EBA standards is 131%. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio is 23.82% and includes the profit for the quarter. Fitch Ratings affirmed Banca Transilvania’s Long-Term IDR at "BB+" with a Negative Outlook, and the Viability Rating (VR) at "bb+".

The stock of residential/mortgage loans is 13.8 billion lei, while SME loans total approximately 17.8 billion lei. The bank’s card portfolio reached 4.4 million cards, of which over 530,000 are credit cards.

BT’s plans for 2021, approved by shareholders. The Year of Recovery

At BT’s General Meeting of Shareholders on April 28 this year, shareholders approved the Board of Directors’ proposal regarding the closing of the 2020 financial year, profit allocation, as well as an increase in shareholders’ equity by 573.8 million lei.

The bank’s 2020 results support BT’s role as a main pillar of the economy’s recovery in 2021. For this year, Banca Transilvania has set the following objectives:

• +11.3% assets, to 115 billion lei;
• 49.3% cost/income ratio;
• +7.9% gross loans;
• 47.9% loan/deposit ratio;
• +11.6% total customer funding.

BT’s 2021 investment budget is 400.88 million lei and will be allocated to IT projects, cards, digital initiatives and the branch network. At Banca Transilvania, the headline for this year is Recovery. BT aims to play a major role in supporting companies, individuals and the economy.