May 22 (SeeNews) - Alexander Picker, CEO of Serbia's Komercijalna banka's [BEL:KMBN], has said the bank is improving its profitability in 2017 as a result of restructuring of its non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio, local media reported.
Komercijalna banka started the process of restructuring of NPLs at the end of 2015, significantly later than other banks, and this strategy started to pay off in the beginning of this year, with profit in the first quarter significantly exceeding forecasts, Politika daily quoted Picker as saying in an interview on Sunday.
The bank enjoys the confidence of customers, as it has conservatively used the deposit base for the fair distribution of loans to the household sector as well as to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), he noted
"Throughout 2016, we significantly expanded our offer to clients, including digital products, and we have adjusted the internal structure of the bank to modern times," Picker said.
The model of the privatisation of the bank will be decided on by its shareholders and the main task before the management is to increase the value of Komercijalna through constant improvement of its profitability, Picker added.
In the first quarter of 2017, the profit of Komercijalna banka rose to 2.483 billion dinars ($22.6 million/20.2 million euro) from 1.4 billion dinars in the first three months of the previous year, exceeding the target set in the business plan for the period by 1.524 billion dinars.
The Serbian government controls 41.74% of the capital of Komercijalna banka, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) owns a 24.43% shareholding interest. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Capitalisation Fund controls 10.15%, while the list of smaller shareholders includes UniCredit Bank Serbia, Dunav Osiguranje and Swedfund International.
(1 euro = 123.095 dinars)
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