April 30 (SeeNews) - Erste Group said on Thursday the net profit of its Croatian business fell by an annual 2.2% to 12.5 million euro ($13.6 million) in the first quarter of 2020.
Net interest income in the Croatia segment (comprising Erste Bank Croatia Group) increased by an annual 0.7% to 68.5 million euro in January-March, as higher retail and corporate loan volumes offset lower interest margins, the Group said in a statement.
Net fee and commission income rose by 2.7% on the year to 23.4 million euro, on higher payment fees in retail business as well as higher fees from bond origination, the statement read.
Operating expenses went up by an annual 2.8% to 56.7 million euro in the first three months of 2020, due to higher personnel and IT costs and included a 3.0 million euro deposit insurance contribution. As a result, the operating profit decreased 13% to 41 million euro in the observed period.
The impairment result from financial instruments deteriorated to negative 12 million euro from positive 0.5 million euro in January-March 2019, mainly due to higher provisioning needs in retail business, the Austrian banking group said.
In Croatia, the Group owns Erste&Steiermaerkische Bank which is the parent company of a Croatian banking group that includes the following subsidiaries: Erste Factoring, Erste&Steiermaerkische S-Leasing, Erste Nekretnine, Izbor Nekretnina, Erste Card Club and Erste Group IT HR in Croatia, Erste Bank AD Podgorica in Montenegro, Erste Card in Slovenia, and Diners Club International Mak in North Macedonia.
($=0.919373 euro)
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