The Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), a member of the Erste Group of Austria, was ranked seventh in the chart of the safest banks in Central and Eastern Europe, according to a hierarchy drawn up by Global Finance magazine.

The banking institutions present in the chart have been selected based on the long-term credit rating and banking assets.

VUB Bank of Slovakia ranks first, followed by the Savings Bankand the Commercial Bank, both from the Czech Republic. Right under the top three safest banks there are two banks from Poland, while following the seventh position occupied by BCR there are three other banks from the Russian Federation - VEB Bank (ranked 8) and Sberbank (ranked 9) and VTB Bank.

BCR on June 30, 2011, registered total assets standing at over 72.377 billion lei (17.056 billion euros), increasing 3.5 percent from the end of last year, the highest value ever registered by the bank, according to the financial data released at the end of July this year.

On the lending segment, the bank's market share remained stable, accounting for approximately 22 percent at the end of June, due to a good activity carried out on the corporate lending segment and a strengthening of the market share to 28 percent on the segment of mortgage loans in euros.

The aggregate loan volume to clients (before provisions, IFRS) has registered a marginal increase to over 48.939 billion lei (11.532 billion euros) in half one, from 48.607 billion lei (11.404 billion euros) at the end of 2010, thanks to some good results witnessed in corporate loans in quarter two, which followed a decline in the first three months.