During the nine months of this year, Banco Popolare Croatia d.d. Zagreb achieved nearly 4.5 million kuna in net profit, which is five and a half times more than the previous year.
This result, they say, is primarily due to significant growth in net interest income and the bank’s assets. Namely, net interest income increased by as much as 48 percent in nine months, amounting to 57 million kuna, while the bank’s assets grew by 22 percent in the past part of the year, reaching 1.85 billion kuna. The total profit, they say at the bank, would have been even greater had it not been for, for example, stagnation in commission and fee income and a noticeable increase of 35 percent in the bank’s operating expenses. In this regard, employee costs rose the most (by 44 percent), exceeding 29 million kuna. Banco Popolare (formerly Banka Sonic) also increased its guarantee capital by 35 percent over the year, which reached 300 million kuna at the end of September this year. The bank does not hide that, as they state in the report clarification, a lawsuit has recently been received from a portion of the bank’s preferred shareholders challenging the decisions made by the general assembly in early June this year, regarding the decisions related to the increase of the core capital. (Nikola Prskalo)
