SBA: Slovak Banking Sector’s Profit Up by 23.8% Y-o-Y in 2016

Bratislava, February 6 (TASR) – Slovakia’s banking sector posted a profit of €750 million at the end of 2016, up by 23.8 percent year-on-year, according to preliminary data released by the central bank (NBS) on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Slovak Banking Association (SBA) noted that a significantly positive effect for the profitability of the sector last year was provided by Visa Inc’s acquisition of Visa Europe.

“One-shot dividend incomes and financial operation yields also had positive effects on profitability last year,” stated SBA, adding that these items increased the sector’s yields by €238 million, boosting the overall economic result by around 25 percent.

Conversely, net interest incomes fell by €4.1 percent y-o-y due to low interest rates, while net fee and commission incomes were also down on an annual basis.

The sector’s overall balance increased by 5.9 percent y-o-y. The state of loans provided to the public rose by 13.4 percent, with corporate loans being up by 5.3 percent.

“The highest number of new and refunding housing loans ever was provided last year, an increase of more than 50 percent compared to 2015,” SBA pointed out. Meanwhile, the interest rates for these loans were down to 1.86 percent on average, while the share of defaults was also down, to 4.54 percent.