TODAY’S NEWS
ECONOMY, MARKET & COMPANIES
-An incident occurred on Monday (May 1) afternoon in the premises of the Petrobrazi Refinery, one of the largest Romanian refineries and one of the largest in Eastern Europe, several people needing medical care. According to the Prahova County Ambulance Service (SAJ), there were three victims at the scene. OMV Petrom operates the Petrobrazi refinery.
-Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), controlled by Austrian banking giant Erste Group, ended the first quarter of 2023 with net profit worth RON562.7 million (EUR114.4 million), up 17.8% y-o-y, amid improved operating performance supported by ongoing strong lending growth.
-The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed a EUR5 million loan to local lender Patria Bank, which is specialized in financing small and microentrepreneurs with limited access to finance.
–Bucharest-headquartered Libra Internet Bank, a member of U.S. investment group New Century Holdings, reported a net profit of RON238.1 million for 2022, up 31.4% y-o-y, and managed to maintain a small ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs), of 1.16%, significantly more favorable than the market average which stood at 2.65% at end-2022, Ziarul Financiar reported.
