Lenders in Croatia posted a consolidated profit of 5 billion kuna (€663 million) over the first nine months of 2022, or about 25 percent up year-on-year, state news platform Hina said on Tuesday, citing a press release from the central bank.

“The operation of lenders in the first three quarters of 2022 generated 5.0 billion kuna in profit. The return on assets (ROA) was 1.3 percent, having slightly increased from 1.2 percent at the end of 2021, while return on equity (ROE) was 10.2 percent, up from 8.8 percent in 2021,” the central bank said.

The largest profit in the first nine months of this year was achieved by the Zagrebacka Banka (1.55 billion kuna), while two other banks reported profits of more than 1 billion kuna – Erste Bank (1.07 billion kuna) and the Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) (1 .04 billion kuna).

This means that the top three banks accounted for 73 percent of the entire sector’s profit in Jan-Sep 2022.

OTP Bank registered a profit of 662.7 million kuna, and Raiffeisenbank Austria followed with 275.5 million kuna, while the largest state-owned bank, the Hrvatska Postanska Banka (HPB), came in sixth with 126.4 million kuna.

The central bank said that over the first three quarters of 2022, the total assets of banks increased by 50.6 billion kuna or 10.1 percent, and amounted to 551.4 billion kuna.

“The increase in total loans and advances of 9.0 percent and a decrease in non-performing loans (NPLs) of 17.1 percent resulted in a further fall in the share of NPLs in total loans – from 4.3 percent at the end of 2021 to 3.3 percent at the end of September 2022. The share of NPLs fell in both the portfolio of loans to non-financial corporations (from 9.9 percent to 6.5 percent) and in the portfolio of loans to households (from 6.6 percent to 5.5 percent).”

“The total capital ratio of the banking system edged down from 25.9 percent at the end of 2021 to 24.0 percent. All credit institutions boasted total capital ratios in excess of the minimum prescribed of 8 percent.”

The lenders’ liquidity, measured by the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR), remained high. At the end of September 2022, all credit institutions met the prescribed minimum liquidity requirements, and the average LCR stood at 198.8 percent.

(€1 = 7.54 kuna)