Moldovan banks' after-tax profit falls 39% y/y in Q1

The drop in profit was mainly attributed to a decline in interest revenues, by an annual 34% to 1.168 billion lei in the first four months of the year, BNM said in a press release on Tuesday.

Revenues from foreign exchange rates increased by 35% year-on-year, while revenues from commissions and fees saw an annual rise of 4.9%. However, these gains were insufficient to offset the decline in revenues from interests.

The total assets of Moldovan banks reached 157.8 billion lei at the end of March, up 2.5% since end-2023.

Moldova Agroindbank was the largest bank at the end of the first quarter, with total assets of 56.7 billion lei, followed by Moldindconbank with 31.7 billion lei, Victoriabank with 21.5 billion lei, OTP Bank with 20.1 billlion lei and ProCredit Bank with 6.6 billion lei worth of assets, BNM said in an earlier data release.

The non-performing loan ratio of Moldovan banks in the first quarter stood at 5.5%, decreasing by one percentage point (pp) since the end of the same period of last year and inching down by 0.1 pp since the end of 2023.

Eleven commercial banks operated in the country of 2.5 million people as at end-March, according to BNM.

(1 euro= 19.213 lei)