STA, 27 November 2019 - Abanka, Slovenia's third largest bank which was privatised in June, generated a net profit of EUR 42.5 million in the first nine months of 2019, a 20% year-on-year decrease. In the low interest rate environment, net interest income totalled EUR 45 million, which is on a par with last year's nine-month result.
Net interest income edged up 0.3% and interest income increased by 1.0%, while interest expenses grew by 7.3% or EUR 0.4 million nominally, show the business results released on Wednesday.
Net fee and commission income for the bank, which has been sold to the US fund Apollo, amounted to EUR 30.3 million, while operating expenses amounted to EUR 50.4 million.
On 30 September 2019, Abanka's total assets amounted to EUR 3,769.8 million, while its market share in terms of total assets stood at 9.3%.
"The bank has high liquidity and a strong capital base," the report says. On the reporting date, Abanka's total capital ratio stood at 23.5%.
Loans to non-bank customers totalled EUR 2.03 million at the end of September, up 4.7% or EUR 91.1 million compared to the end of 2018.
Loans increased as a result of loans to corporate customers and sole proprietors rising by 4.4% or EUR 46.3 million and those to retail customers by 4.1% or EUR 36.8 million, the bank wrote.
Deposits from non-bank customers amounted to EUR 3.02 million, an increase of 2.9% or EUR 85.9 million. Deposits from retail customers increased by 4.6% or EUR 95.6 million nominally and deposits from corporate customers and sole proprietors went down by 1.1% or EUR 9.7 million.
The Abanka group continued to actively reduce non-performing loans. These decreased by EUR 25.8 million, while the share of non-performing loans was down 1.0 percentage point to 3.6%.
Net impairment and provisions cancelled amounted to EUR 14.9 million, while in the same period of 2018 the figure stood at EUR 15.6 million. In the reporting period, the bank cancelled provisions amounting to EUR 11.1 million and impairment of EUR 3.8 million.
"The bank will continue with the optimisation of its operations, the accelerated development of digital channels and the digital work environment, while ensuring safe, stable and profitable operations," the report says.
Abanka, one of the banks bailed out in 2013 and 2014, was sold in June by the state to the Maribor-based NKBM bank, which had also been in state ownership before being sold to Apollo. The transaction, which entails the merger of the second and third largest banks in the country, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
