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Weekly Lists
August 17, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 32
bne:Banker
Czech banks report record-breaking profit of CZK43bn in 1H18
Czech banks are experiencing a very successful year driven mostly by households’ demand for mortgages. In the first half of 2018, banks made a profit of CZK43.30bn (€1.7bn), which was CZK600mn more annually, the preliminary data published on August 10 by the Czech National Bank (CNB) show.
The results for 2018 are the second highest in Czech history. Only in 2016 did banks have a higher overall profit of CZK44.40bn, but this was due to one-off income from selling shares in card company Visa.
In H1 2018, banks profited from strong demand for mortgages and increasing interest rates. Although the average volume of money provided by banks in mortgages decreased by 12%, the average interest rate increased by almost 40%.
Bank of Georgia Group on August 16 recorded an 11.2% y/y improvement in first-half profit.
It said profit rose to 257.8mn laris ($100.9mn) from 231.8mn laris a year earlier.
Higher lending against a backdrop of stronger economic growth in Georgia helped it to the gain.
Pre-tax profit for Bank of Georgia’s banking division climbed 27.8% to 231.2mn laris in the first half. First-half revenue rose 17.8% to 489.3mn laris, while the net interest margin fell to 7% from 7.3% year on year. Retail Banking saw a 29.5% rise in the net loan book to 5.38bn laris as of June 30.
Russian banks made a combined RUB776bn ($11.63bn) in net profit in the first seven months of the year, down more than 15.7% y/y after a state bailout of troubled lenders, the central bank said on August 14.
The banking sector is returning to profitability and made RUB142bn in July, the same as in the same month last year but ahead of the RUB96bn they made in July a year before that.
Apart from March this year, Russian banks have been making less money than last year as the economic recovery fails to gather mo- mentum.
Bank of Georgia Group posts 11.2% y/y gain in first-half profit on stronger economic growth
Russia’s banking sector profit down 15% y/y in 7M18 to $12bn