August 10 (SeeNews) - Hungarian banking group OTP said on Friday its Serbian unit swung to an after-tax profit without adjustments (dividends, net cash transfers and one-offs) of 1.6 billion Hungarian forints ($5.7 million/5.0 million euro) in the first half, from a loss of 1.5 billion forints in the like period of last year.
The result in the first half of 2018 reflects the consolidation of Serbia's Vojvodjanska banka.
The net interest income of OTP Banka Srbija grew to 9.7 billion forints in January-June from 2.9 billion forints last year, while its net fee and commission income rose 291% to 3.4 billion forints, OTP said in an interim financial report.
OTP Banka Srbija’s gross loan portfolio expanded by 18.0% compared to the end-2017 figure, reaching 361.4 billion forints in the first half. Deposits from customers rose 7.0% in the review period to 375.5 billion forints.
Total assets grew 12% compared to end-December level to 542.6 billion forints as at the end of June.
In August last year, OTP Banka Srbija purchased from National Bank of Greece a 100% shareholding in Serbia's Vojvodjanska Banka and NBG Leasing, as well as certain other Serbian exposures held by National Bank of Greece.
In Southeast Europe, OTP is also present in Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Montenegro.
(1 euro=322.480 forints)