The BRD Group posted a net profit of 1.524 billion RON in 2024, down almost 8% compared to the net result obtained in 2023, and reported a 19% increase in net loans balance.

„2024 was another solid year for BRD, which continued to deliver strong commercial performance across all business segments, posting solid growth in net loan balance, +19% compared to 2023. The corporate segment saw the highest growth of +29% year-over-year, while commercial performance in the retail segment picked up, resulting in portfolio growth of 13% year-over-year, compared to 2023. The production of loans granted to individual customers remained very dynamic, reaching record levels, totaling almost 12 billion RON, up 54%, driven by the growth in both consumer and housing loans,” said Maria Rousseva, CEO of BRD Groupe Societe Generale, in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday.

According to the cited source, consumer loans totaled 7.3 billion RON, up 49% year-over-year, while the financing of housing projects for clients increased by 63% year-over-year, up to 4.4 billion RON.

The loan portfolio for companies increased by 29% year-over-year, supported by the performance of both SMEs (+26.4%) and large companies (+31.1%). The net loan balance of small companies grew by 25.8% year-over-year, supported by improved lending processes and strong involvement in government programs, the group said. „A main driver for SME financing was the government’s SME Plus Programme, with BRD granting more than 2,200 loans totaling 3.56 billion RON in 2024,” the release shows.

The leasing activity continued its strong growth trajectory, with the balance of net financing increasing by 19.6% year-over-year to over 2 billion RON at the end of December 2024.

Last year, BRD’s sustainable financing amounted to over 1.8 billion RON, mainly supporting projects in photovoltaic renewable energy, green buildings, electric mobility, water sector, with cumulative production over the last 3 years reaching almost 1.3 billion EUR, well above the target initially set for the end of 2025, the document points out.

The deposit base continued to grow steadily, up 8.9% year-over-year at the end of December 2024. Retail deposits, a key and stable source of funding, grew by 8.7% year-over-year, further boosted by net inflows of retail time deposits (up 19% year-over-year). Corporate deposits recorded a similar growth of 9.1% year-over-year, mainly driven by higher net inflows from SMEs (+13.4% y/y).

BRD Group’s net banking income increased by 5.2% compared to 2023, reaching 4 billion RON. Net interest income, the main pillar of growth, advanced 6.8% year-over-year in 2024, driven by robust commercial activity in both the retail and corporate segments, restrained, however, by the increase in financing costs with customer deposits, but at a more moderate pace, following the trend of market interest rates on RON, the bank maintains. Net fee and commission income increased by 7.8% year-over-year, mainly driven by the intensification of lending activities and customer transactions. Other banking income (-13.2% year-on-year) was mainly influenced by an exceptional limited provision recorded in Q1 2024 and the sale of BRD Finance’s loan portfolio.

The loan portfolio remained solid during the year, with the Non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio around the historical low, reaching 2.1% at the end of December 2024 (slightly up from the record low of 1.9% recorded at the end of 2023, but still below the average of the banking system), while the NPL coverage, stood at 77.8% at the end of December 2024, compared to 76% at the end of 2023.

By December 31, 2024, the bank’s network reached 388 branches (up from 423 at December 31, 2023) and a growing number of 24/7 self-service zones, covering almost 60% of its network (225 compared to 194 at December 31, 2023). The number of users of the YouBRD mobile app YouBRD has climbed to over 1.7 million (+20% year-over-year at end-December 2024) as has the number of transactions carried out via the app (+28% year-on-year).

In June 2024, BRD also introduced a cashback loyalty program available in YouBRD. At the end of 2024, approximately 650,000 customers were enrolled in the program and an amount of 1.8 million RON was granted in cashback to BRD customers.

The bank’s total assets amounted to 85.9 billion RON at the end of December 2024.

AGERPRES