March 1 (SeeNews) - Croatian credit institutions booked an overall profit of 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) last year, the central bank said.
The central bank did not provide comparative figures in the Thursday report on the performance of the banking system, but a year ago it said that credit institutions registered a profit of 703 million euro in 2022.
The Adriatic country joined the Eurozone in January 2023.
In 2023, total assets of credit institutions increased by 3.5% from the end of 2022 and stood at 78.6 billion euro. Most credit institutions’ assets increased.
The number of credit institutions dropped to twenty in 2023 after the acquisition of Nova Hrvatska Banka by Hrvatska Postanska Banka in July 2023.
Profitability indicators improved from the end of 2022, with return on assets rising to 1.8% from 1.0% and return on equity (ROE) growing to 15.5% from 8.2%, driven by a strong increase in interest income, the central bank added.
The share of non-performing loans (NPLs) in total loans and advances fell to 2.6% from 3.0%.
The share of NPLs declined to 5.1% from 6.4% in the portfolio of loans to non-financial corporations and to 4.2% from 5.0% to in the portfolio of household loans.
The key indicators of banking system capitalisation remained high, while the banking system total capital ratio edged down to 23.6% due to a decrease in total capital and an increase in risk exposure. All credit institutions boasted total capital ratios exceeding the minimum prescribed ratio of 8%.
At the end of 2023, all credit institutions met the prescribed minimum liquidity requirements, with the average liquidity coverage ratio standing at 238.1%.
($ = 0.924 euro)
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