The increased profitability resulted from an increase in net interest income which rose to €74.7m in the first six months of the year and net income from fees, commissions, net gains on disposal and revaluation of foreign currencies and financial instruments and other income, which rose to €56.3m from €73.3m and €45.6m respectively, the lender said in an emailed statement recently. Total expenses dropped to €72.3m from €76.9m.

Hellenic said that it booked a total of €48.8m in provisions for loan impairments in the first six months of the year, compared with €47m in the respective six-month period of 2015, and €8.9m in taxes compared to a tax refund of below €0.8m respectively.

The bank said that its non-performing loan ratio dropped in June, for the third consecutive quarter, to 57.7% from 58% the quarter before. Its core equity tier 1 capital ratio increased slightly to 13.9%. Hellenic said that its net interest margin remained unchanged at 2.1%.

The lender’s chief executive officer Bert Pijls said that “it is encouraging to see that the Bank is making progress against its strategic priorities, which are to reduce non performing exposures on the one hand and growth on the other”.

“As I have repeatedly stated, Hellenic Bank will continue to explore all available options in an effort to decisively tackle the non-performing exposure problem,” he said. “Our expenses are below previous year, loan growth is on track and our market share has increased, and our net interest margin has improved. That being said, the effects of the crisis are still being felt and we have had to build some additional provisions during the first 6 months of the year, which resulted in a profit for the group of €1m during the first 6 months of 2016”.

Source: Cyprus Mail