Raiffeisen Bank Romania’s assets reach 74 billion RON in the first half of 2024, an increase of 12 percent compared to the same period in 2023, with a profit of 820 million RON.
Operating expenses have increased by 12 percent year-on-year, reflecting investments in employee training, retention of well-qualified staff, expansion of the team in key areas, as well as the modernization of IT infrastructure, digital transformation projects, and the improvement of applications and solutions offered to clients.
The loan stock reaches 40.9 billion RON. After a beginning of the year in which the demand for loans in the market was rather modest, the second quarter saw a rebound in the balance of loans granted to companies (+5 percent compared to the previous quarter), especially in the area of corporate customers.
In terms of the evolution of volumes originated in the first half of 2024 to individuals, personal loans increased by around 40 percent and mortgage loans increased by around 22 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
In the first half of the year, the number of people who chose to open a Raiffeisen account directly from their phone via the mobile banking app, Smart Mobile, increased by approximately 300 percent compared to the first half of the previous year.
In the first 6 months of the year, online transactions using debit cards recorded increases of over 30 percent, while the number of cash withdrawal transactions decreased compared to the same period last year. As card transactions become increasingly convenient for customers, through the expansion of payment points and the availability of simple payment methods such as mobile payments, card transactions are preferred over cash transactions.
Through collaboration with the European Investment Fund, Raiffeisen Bank Romania continues to support SME financing with two guarantee schemes worth 400 million euros, the largest investment plan in recent years dedicated to Romanian SMEs. In the first half of 2024, under the two active programs (EIF Microfinance and EIF Competitiveness), over 86 million euros were financed.
Also, in the first half of the year, Raiffeisen Bank has been actively involved in the SME Plus program, the facilities granted under this program reaching approximately 430 million euro, cumulatively in the Mid-Corporate and Micro & Small segments, which is an important factor of support for small and medium-sized companies.
