January 8 (SeeNews) - The net profit of Bosnia's Federation banking sector grew by 1.7% on the year to 250.9 million marka ($142.8 million/128.3 million euro) in the first nine months of 2019, the entity's banking agency, FBA, said.
The banks' net interest income fell by 0.6% to 453.4 million marka in the period under review, FBA said in a report on the performance of the banking sector in the Federation published on Tuesday.
The total operating income of the banks in the Federation rose by 6.1% on the year to 349.6 million marka in the January-September period, while operating costs added 1.2% to 388.2 million marka.
The Federation's banking sector non-performing loan (NPL) ratio declined to 7.6% at the end of September, down 0.9 percentage points compared to the end-December figure.
The banks' total net assets amounted to 23.7 billion marka as at end-September, up 7.5% compared to the end of 2018.
A total of 15 banks operated in the Federation at the end of September.
Mostar-based UniCredit Bank was the largest bank in the Federation in terms of assets at end-September, followed by Sarajevo-based Raiffeisen Bank and the Bosnian arm of Intesa Sanpaolo bank.
The Federation is one of the two autonomous entities forming Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)
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