CEC Bank pays dividends of 634.3 million RON to the Romanian state

CEC Bank announces the payment of dividends amounting to 634.3 million RON for the financial years 2019 and 2020 to its shareholder, the Ministry of Public Finance. Payment has already been made at the end of last week. The bank distributed over 85 percent of the net profit attributable to shareholders.

“We have shown that CEC Bank can come up with a viable growth and transformation plan. And we have respected all the commitments assumed within the Business Plan which was the basis for the increase of the share capital of CEC Bank, in market conditions. The ability to generate profits for shareholders is the main indicator by which the attractiveness of a business on the market is measured, and the Ministry of Finance understood to act as a private investor. These dividends prove that he had to win,” said Bogdan Neacșu, CEO of CEC Bank.

The distribution of dividends is part of the obligations assumed under the business plan that was the basis for the increase of the share capital of CEC Bank, approved by the European Commission at the end of 2019. The plan also provides for the granting of a subordinated loan, necessary for CEC Bank to comply with European requirements on own funds and eligible liabilities (as set out in Directive 2014/59 / EU on Minimum Requirements on Own Funds and Eligible Liabilities).

The share capital increase of CEC Bank by cash contribution of the shareholder is one of the few projects approved at EU level on the capital increase at the level of a bank, by a state shareholder, in market conditions, which passed the test of the private investor. The Commission considered that by injecting capital into CEC Bank, the State as a shareholder would benefit from a return on investment in accordance with market conditions.

The funds were and will be used mainly to strengthen CEC Bank’s position in the credit market and to invest in modernizing IT systems.

In 2019, the net profit of CEC Bank amounted to 379.6 million RON, and in 2020 – to 337.7 million RON, these being the best results in the post-transition history of the bank. Dividends were applied to the profit resulting from the distribution of all regulated items: taxes, reserves, provisions, etc.

In the first 11 months of 2021, CEC Bank recorded a net profit of about 400 million RON, up 46 percent compared to the same period last year, and the bank’s assets increased to 45.62 billion RON, compared to 39.4 billion RON in November 2021 (+ 16 percent). The decision on the distribution of the profit for the year 2021 is to be taken by the shareholders after the approval of the financial statements for the financial year 2021.