August 3 (SeeNews) - Romania's UniCredit Bank saw its pre-tax profit fall 5.4% year-on-year to 57 million euro ($67.5 million) in the first half of 2017, UniCredit Group said on Thursday.
UniCredit Bank generated an operating income of 186 million euro in the first half of 2017, 0.2% lower on the year, the lender's parent, Italy's UniCredit Group, said in its H1 financial statement.
Net interest income rose 3.4% year-on-year to 105 million euro in the six months through June, while net fees and commissions added 15.2% to 41 million euro.
Customers' deposits rose by 18.2% to 4.94 billion euro during the period January-June, while loans grew 8.4%, reaching 5.46 billion euro.
In the second quarter, the bank's profit before tax fell to 31 million euro, compared to 36 million euro in the respective period of 2016.
The bank operated 200 branches in Romania as of end-June, serving more than 600,000 customers.
The bank's pre-tax profit jumped 30.3% last year, reaching 91 million euro.
On Monday, UniCredit Bank Romania raised 610 million lei ($158 million/134 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 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday it is investing 152.5 million lei in the tranche of senior unsecured bonds issued by the bank.
In August 2015, Romania's UniCredit Tiriac Bank changed its name to UniCredit Bank after UniCredit Bank Austria raised its stake in it to 95.6%.
(1 euro = 4.5632 lei)
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