Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria 9-mo After-tax Profit Drops 57% to 24.3 Mln Euro

The bank's loan portfolio increased to 4.73 billion levs in the nine months through September from 4.12 billion levs a year earlier, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria said in a statement.

The bank, part of Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich (RZB), also said its assets decreased to 6.82 billion levs at the end of September from 7.16 billion levs a year earlier.

Its operating profit rose slightly to 135.4 milion levs from 134.9 million levs in the first nine months of 2008. Its deposit portfolio fell to 4.26 billion levs from 4.6 billion levs a year ago.

Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria had a capital adequacy ratio of 17.3%, which exceeded the minimum required ratio of 12%.

Raiffeisenbank ranked as the fourth largest Bulgarian lender in terms of assets at the end of September when the country's banking system comprised 24 domestically-registered banks and six branches of foreign lenders.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)