Czech and Slovak UniCredit Bank posted a net profit of CZK 8.5 billion (EUR 347 million) in the first three quarters of this year. This represents a year-on-year increase of 25.2 percent. This is according to information published today by the bank’s parent company. The other big banks have not yet published their results for the three quarters.
UniCredit Bank’s deposit volume rose 7.4 percent year-on-year to CZK 554 billion this year. The volume of loans increased 8.3 percent to CZK 564 billion, according to the announcement.
Net fee and commission income fell 4.6 per cent to CZK 4.5 billion, while net interest income rose eight per cent to CZK 11.9 billion. Net operating profit rose 18.5 per cent to CZK 10.9 billion.
In the context of the energy crisis and rising electricity and gas prices, the government decided to impose a tax on extraordinary profits, the so-called windfall tax, on the largest banks, including UniCredit Bank. It approved it as a 60 % tax surcharge on excessive profits. This corresponds to the difference between the tax base and the average cost of the tax base over the last four years plus 20 percent. In addition to large banks, the windfall tax also applies to energy and petrochemical companies, and the state had collected a total of CZK 25.65 billion at the end of September.
UniCredit Bank started operations in the Czech market in November 2007. It was created by the integration of HVB Bank and Živnostenská banka. UniCredit Bank has almost 900,000 clients in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Source: UniCredit Bank and CTK
