June 2 (SeeNews) - Croatian credit institutions booked an overall profit of 301.2 million euro ($324 million) in the first quarter of this year, the central bank said.
It did not give comparative figures in a quarterly report on the performance of the banking system, but a year ago it said that credit institutions registered a profit of 212 million euro in the first quarter of 2022.
The assets of Croatia’s credit institutions fell 5.2% from the end of 2022 and stood at 72 billion euro at the end of March, the central bank said earlier this week, citing unaudited preliminary data. Assets decreased in most credit institutions, it added.
Profitability indicators rose from the end of 2022, as the return on assets rose to 1.6% from 1.0% and return on equity reached 14.0% from 8.2%.
Total loans and advances fell 7.0%, as compared to a 2.2% decline in non-performing loans, which led to an increase in the share of NPLs in total loans and advances to 3.2% at the end of the first quarter of 2023 from 3.0% at the end of 2022.
The share of NPLs in the portfolio of loans to non-financial corporations dropped to 6.2% from 6.4%. In the portfolio of household loans, their share shrank to 4.8% from 5.0%.
All credit institutions boasted total capital ratios in excess of the minimum prescribed of 8%.
At the end of the first quarter of 2023, all credit institutions met the prescribed minimum liquidity requirements, with the average liquidity coverage ratio standing at 226.2%.
($=0.929 euro)