September 4 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's largest lender, state-owned Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), said it booked a net profit of 117.9 million euro ($140.5 million) in the first half of 2017, up 70% on the year.
The group's net interest income dropped 5% on the year to 148.6 million euro in the six months through June, while net fee and commission income climbed 7% to 92.5 million euro, NLB said in a bourse filing late on Friday.
NLB's gross non-performing loans decreased to 1.181 billion euro at the end of the first half of 2017 from 1.299 billion euro in December 2016. Gross NPLs as a percentage of total loans fell to 12.6% at the end of June from 13.8% in December.
The return on equity (ROE) increased to 15.5% at the end of June from 9.4% a year earlier. Total Capital Ratio and Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio (CET1) were 16.5%, significantly exceeding regulatory requirements, NLB said.
"Relentless pursuit of enhancements and provision of top client services are driving its progress in digitalisation and modernisation of services," the president of NLB supervisory board, Primoz Karpe, said.
At the end of the first half of 2017, NLB Group had total assets of 12.1 billion euro, flat on end-December 2016.
NLB was one of two Slovenian banks - alongside NKBM, to show a minor capital shortfall under the adverse scenario of the stress test conducted by the European Central Bank in October 2014.
In December 2013, the Slovenian government had to step in and recapitalize the country's three biggest lenders - NLB, NKBM and Abanka, narrowly avoiding an international bailout. Earlier this year, Slovenian state holding company SDH said it will sell NLB in two parts by the end of 2018.
($=0.838812 euro)
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