TMCnet News
Ceska sporitelna with net profit down to Kc11.23bn in Q1-3(Czech News Agency Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Ceska sporitelna with net profit down to Kc11.23bn in Q13 adds more info at the end of the story Prague, Oct 30 (CTK) Ceska sporitelna, the biggest domestic bank by number of clients, saw consolidated net profit fall by 2.2 percent to Kc11.23bn in the first three quarters of this year, according to unaudited results to international accounting standards the bank made public today. Operating profit reached Kc16.99bn, compared with Kc17.10bn a year earlier. Ceska sporitelna registered a 2.4 percent growth in its loan portfolio to Kc510.05bn in Q13. The volume of new consumer loans increased by 2.9 percent to Kc18.87bn. "The slowly improving economic situation in the Czech Republic was reflected in increased volume of loans for households and businesses and in combination with consistent cost management also in the stabilisation of operating profit," the bank said. The yearonyear drop in net profit was caused in particular by other operating result, it added. "The growth in loans on the banking market is faster than the economic growth and we participate in the support to the economic revival in a significant way. Despite the constantly increasing regulatory requirements, we are able to satisfy growing demand of companies and households for financing of their needs," said Ceska sporitelna's board chairman Pavel Kysilka. Total assets dropped by 4.9 percent to Kc897.28bn. This was caused mainly by the deconsolidation of pension fund Transformovany fond CSPS to the value of Kc48.6bn. Without this influence, total assets would have increased by 0.3 percent, the bank said. Ceska sporitelna had 5,066,308 clients at the end of September this year, 4.3 percent fewer than a year earlier. The bank has 10,433 employees and 645 branches in the Czech Republic. As of last year, it raised the number of ATMs by almost fifty to 1,556. "We opened a new experimental branch in Plzen in August and we will offer in the whole network of branches everything that clients will appreciate the most," Kysilka said. "The launch of new service video banker in the selfservice zone can serve as an example. A banker from our client centre will help clients with a number of simple steps via a screen," he added. Austrian financial group Erste Group Bank, which controls Ceska sporitelna, sank into a EUR554m (Kc15.4bn) loss in the third quarter of this year after a EUR128m profit recorded a year earlier. Erste Group Bank has confirmed that it expects a record, up to EUR1.6bn loss for the whole of this year. It announced the loss caused by problems in Hungary and Bulgaria already in July. Erste is a key player on the banking market in Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from the Czech Republic and Austria, it is active also in Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia. fs/er |