Banca Transilvania (TLV), the biggest private Romanian-controlled bank, posted 396.62 million RON (108 million euros) net profit in the first nine months of the year, a figure that includes the one-off income from the sale of 25% in Asiban, Ziarul Financiar reported. The profit is triple the level posted in the same time last year.

The net operating income went up by 30% and reached 173.54 million RON (47.3 million euros), while the total assets of the bank increased by 19% compared to the beginning of the year, and reached 16.469 billion RON (some 4.48 billion euros).

The worsening conditions on the bank market, as a result of the international financial crisis, have encouraged the heads of Banca Transilvania to consider a slowdown of the growth rate over the coming period.

However, the bank says it is also considering acquisitions, after having collected 87.5 million euros from the sale of its stake in insurer Asiban to French group Groupama, with the net profit derived from this transaction standing at 223 million RON (some 61 million euros).

As a result, Banca Transilvania had readily available cash worth 3.69 billion RON (about 1 billion euros) at the end of September.

Banca Transilvania has 850 million euros placed with NBR as minimum mandatory reserves.
However, the bank has started to feel, though indirectly, the effects of the international financial crisis, and saw both its assets and its profit growth slow down in the third quarter.

According to the bank's officials, the profit was hurt by the dwindling interest margins and by the decline of the Stock Exchange, while cautious lending policies stopped asset growth.

TLV shares are suspended from trading, pending completion of a par value consolidation operation, from 0.1 RON to 1 RON. TLV shares have lost some 50% of their value since the beginning of the year.