The banking sector’s operating profit in 2021 was 22.596 billion RON, up from 19.462 billion RON reported the year before, shows data centralized by the National Institute of Statistics, according to Agerpres.

Income from banking operations decreased to 77.214 billion RON from 83.311 billion RON in 2020, as did banking expenses, which amounted to 54.618 billion RON (63.849 billion RON in 2020).

The operating profit per 1,000 RON of revenue from banking operations increased from 234 RON in 2020 to 293 RON in 2021, in current prices.

In 2021 too, exchange operations accounted for the highest share of the total banking operating income, specifically 61.9 percent compared to 66.7 percent in 2020, and totaled 47.817 billion RON.

Exchange operations also represented the bulk of bank operating expenses – 82.6 percent of the total, or 45.114 billion RON.

Customer operations, the second major element in banking operating income, advanced 2.3 percentage points to 16.975 billion RON.

Expenses with customer operations decreased in comparison to 2020 to 2.428 billion RON (4.4 percent of total banking operating expenses).

Net investments last year amounted to 757 million RON and materialized in machines with and without assembly – 48.9 percent, construction works – 25.8 percent, other investments – 23.6 percent, and transport means – 1.7 percent of the total amount of investments.

There was an increase in 2021 in PC, server and portable computer equipment, and the number of internet-connected devices was up 1.7 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year.

In terms of workforce, the average number of employees decreased by 4 percent overall compared to 2020, with women accounting for 66 percent of the total number of employees.

Commercial banks with a total balance sheet of over 10 billion RON represented the largest share (39 percent), and 29 percent of the banks recorded total balance sheet values between 1 and 5 billion RON.

25 of the total of 34 commercial banks active in Romania in 2021 were controlled by EU countries, 4 by other countries, and 5 were banks with Romanian capital.

Agerpres