Profits among banks active in the Czech Republic rose CZK 213 million to CZK 44.3bn in the first quarter of 2018, with earnings on interest rates rising by CZK 4.1bn to CZK 39.5bn. Also in Q1, they saw earnings from bank charges and commissions rise by CZK 340m to CZK 11.16bn. “Domestic banks were again among the most profitable in the EU,” said Cyrrus analyst, Lukáš Kovanda. “The slight fall in the growth of profits is a tax for the high bar set in the first quarter of last year. At that time, the Czech National Bank’s currency intervention was finishing up then and local banks were making money on the speculative positiosn of international investors who had bet on the strengthening of the koruna even after intervention finished.”
