November 9 (SeeNews) - Romania's UniCredit Bank increased its pre-tax profit 4.5% year-on-year to 83 million euro ($96.3 million) in the first nine months of 2017, the UniCredit Group said on Thursday.
UniCredit Bank generated an operating income of 278 million euro in the period under review, down 0.5% on the year, the lender's parent, Italy's UniCredit Group, said in its third-quarter financial statement.
Net interest income rose 5.1% year-on-year to 162 million euro in the nine months through September, while net fees and commissions added 12.5% to 62 million euro.
Deposits rose by 16.8% year-on-year to 5.07 billion euro during the period January-September, while loans grew 10%, reaching 5.65 billion euro.
In the third quarter, the bank's profit before tax rose to 26 million euro, compared to 20 million euro in the respective period of 2016.
The bank operated 157 branches in Romania as of end-September, serving more than 600,000 customers.
The bank's pre-tax profit jumped 30.3% last year, reaching 91 million euro.
At the beginning of November, The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a 50 million euro loan agreement with UniCredit Bank under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). UniCredit Bank will use the loan to finance innovative or riskier projects by SMEs, mid-caps, start-ups and companies promoting employment in general and jobs for the young people in particular.
In October, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it is considering a loan of up to 30 million euro to UniCredit Bank and UniCredit Consumer Financing.The financing would be used for on-lending to eligible sub-borrowers for investments in energy and resource efficiency measures in the residential buildings.
In August, UniCredit Bank Romania raised 610 million lei ($153 million/132 million euro) through bond issuance on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The proceeds from the issue will be used for general financing purposes, mostly lending to customers. The EBRD invested 152.5 million lei in the tranche of senior unsecured bonds issued by the bank.
($= 0.8617 euro)
UniCredit Bank SA (formerly known as UniCredit Tiriac Bank SA) is among the biggest banks in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here