Bancherul - BANCI / ENGLISH / Citibank Romania Registers Record Operating Performance

Citibank Romania announced today that its net income from interest, fees and commissions grew by 54% to RON 210 million for the fiscal year 2007, while the gross revenues increased by 40%, to RON 2,038 million, said the bank in a statement.

In addition, Citibank’s net profit was 45% higher, reaching RON 85 million, while the net trading profit increased by 95% to RON 55 million. This has largely been driven by a combination of higher customer volumes coupled with higher trading revenues.

“2007 was the best year in Citibank’s history in Romania. These results reconfirm our constant growth on the Romanian market and our client first strategy. We see high growth potential in our consumer and corporate business – both by network expansion and launch of new products”, stated Shahmir Khaliq, Citi Country Officer.

Financial highlights

As of December 31, 2007, Citibank Romania’s total assets were of RON 4,145 million, 71% higher than at year-end 2006, due to higher loan volumes driven by consumer and corporate bank. Last year, the net loan portfolio registered a 57% increase compared to 2006, reaching RON 1,653 million, 42% of total assets. Total corporate finance loan portfolio was of RON 903 million – 20% higher than in 2006. The SMEs loan portfolio was of RON 256 million – approximately 127% increase compared to 2006. The most dynamic growth - 133% compared to 2006 - was registered in the loan portfolio of Citibank’s consumer finance division, CitiFinancial, which reached RON 520 million by December 2007.

An important item of Citibank’s assets growth was represented by the Receivable with credit institution, which reached RON 1.1billion, with an increase of 235% over 2006. One of the main drivers of this growth was the increase of the minimum reserve maintained with National Bank of Romania as a consequence of customer’s deposit vigorous development. Citibank Romania’s customer liabilities base continuously enlarged over the past year and reached RON 3 billion, as of December 31st, 2007 (84% increase over last year).

By year-end 2007, liabilities totaled RON 3,741 million, out of which client liabilities (deposits and current accounts) represent almost 80%. Equity increased by 26%, to RON approximately 404 million.

The bank’s Return on assets (ROA) was 2.44% up from a 2.29% a year ago. The Return on Equity (ROE) also increased to 23.18% from 19.19% in 2006. Net provisions also increased given the significant rise in consumer portfolio last year – the ratio calculated as net provisions / total loan portfolio reached 1.91% from 0.77% in 2006.

As of December 31, 2007, Citibank Romania had 618 employees, and 47 units, out of which 8 corporate banking branches and 39 CitiFinancial branches. Additionally, CitiFinancial served its clients through 50 direct sales centers. At the end of last year, the bank provided services for 97,040 clients (95510 individuals, 667 SMEs, 863 corporate clients), being twice the amount of customers as of last year - 51,343 clients (50,272 individuals, 571 SMEs, 500 corporate clients).

Last year, Citi arranged and co-arranged several major syndicated loans on the Romanian market: EUR 130 million EBRD B-Loan for a financial institution, EUR 80 million Syndicated loan – refinancing, working capital for Fildas Trading. In 2007, Citi also co-arranged EUR 500MM financing – the largest ever-syndicated loan for a Romanian borrower – granted to RCS&RDS.

In 2007, Enel Energie SA (founded as a result of Electrica Banat and Electrica Dobrogea privatization) and CEZ Vanzare SA (founded after Electrica Oltenia’s privatization) mandated Citibank Romania SA to collect their bills through Posta Romana network. In addition, Citibank Romania was mandated by Apa Nova, Distrigaz Sud and COSMOTE to collect their invoices by the cash payment systems Unikasa and Easy Payments networks. In 2007, Citibank Romania SA and Lafarge Ciment SA implemented an interbanking direct debit collection solution for companies’ invoices, a first on the Romanian market. Lafarge Ciment SA now uses the system for the collection of its partners’ invoices.

Last year, Citibank Romania also received a number of awards for its activity, such as: “Best at Cash Management in Central & Eastern Europe” granted by Euromoney, “Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Bank - Global” granted by Global Finance, "Top rated" granted by Global Custodian.

In addition, Citibank Romania continued to invest in its consumer finance business during 2007. CitiFinancial launched 8 new branches, located in Braila, Craiova, Iasi, Oradea, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Timisoara – representing the second CitiFinancial unit in each of these cities, except for Constanta, where it was the third branch opening. Another 7 new direct sales centers have been opened in Tulcea, Roman, Sfantu Gheorghe, Alba Iulia, Hunedoara, Slatina, Onesti. CitiFinancial’s sales force increased from 500 to 668 people, being the largest one on the Romanian banking market.

1 For the purposes of disclosure, please note that these numbers are prepared as per Romanian Accounting System / Central Bank norms and not IFRS.

Citi in Romania

Citi is represented in Romania by Citibank Romania S.A. since 1996 and provides high-quality financial services and products to national and multinational companies, small and medium companies, public sector, non-for-profit organizations and individuals. Citibank Romania S.A. has 8 corporate banking branches and 39 CitiFinancial branches, dedicated to individual clients. CitiFinancial is also serving its customers through 50 direct sales centers located in Romania’s main cities with approximately 668 direct sales agents. Citi the leading global financial services company has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com