May 5 (SeeNews) - Serbia's Erste Bank Novi Sad said on Friday its net profit surged 41.6% year-on-year to 742 million dinars ($6.6 million/6 million euro) in the first quarter of 2017 on the back of a rise in lending and a drop in non-performing loans (NPLs).
Net interest income rose by an annual 10.8% to 1.536 billion dinars in the three months through March, while net fees and commission income increased 4.4% to 349 million dinars, the bank said in a statement.
Non-performing loan (NPL) ratio stood at 5.8% at the end of the first quarter of 2017, below the sector average.
Loans to households increased by 4.3% from end-2016 to 39.3 billion dinars at end-March, while deposits of individuals grew 1.3% to 51.6 billion dinars.
The bank's corporate loan portfolio decreased by 1.5% to 58.5 billion dinars, while corporate deposits jumped 19.8% to 28.6 billion dinars.
Capital adequacy ratio (CAR) came in at 19.67% at end-March.
The bank's total assets rose to 145.1 billion dinars as at end-March, up from 142.9 billion dinars at end-December.
Serbia's Erste Bank, based in the city of Novi Sad, is part of Erste Group, which serves over 16 million clients in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia.
The Erste Bank network in Serbia consists of 73 retail branches, as well as 10 corporate centres. Erste Bank Novi Sad employs nearly 1,000 staff.
(1 euro=123.289 dinars)