November 1 (SeeNews) - The combined net profit of Bulgarian banks soared by 34% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2016, reaching 1.07 billion levs ($615.5 million/562 million euro), central bank data showed.
The banks' interest income dropped by 9.4% on the year to 2.5 billion levs during the nine-month period, whereas fee and commission income grew 3.6% to 785.3 million levs, according to the data released on Monday.
The banking sector's total net operating revenue for the first nine months of 2016 grew 6.9% year-on-year to 3.1 billion levs.
The banks' total assets added 5% year-on-year, reaching 89.8 billion levs at the end of September.
The gross loan portfolio of Bulgarian banking sector totalled 55.7 billion levs as of end-September, edging up 0.7% from a year earlier. Non-performing loans (NPLs) decreased by 1% year-on-year to 10.5 million levs in the period under review.
Deposits increased 5.2%, reaching 76.2 billion levs as of September 30, 2016.
A total of 22 banks and five branches of foreign banks operated in Bulgaria as of end-September 2016.
(1 euro=1.95583 levs)