Slovenská sporiteľňa achieved profit after tax in the amount of EUR 139.7 million in the first half of 2023 

“The last quarter saw a development very similar to the one from the first three moths of this year, as banks were mainly influenced by the tightening of the monetary policy by ECB. However, good news for clients is that we also repeatedly increased interest rates on deposits in the last quarter. You must realize that while every fourth client has a mortgage and most of these clients were not impacted by the interest rate hikes yet; practically all clients have deposits and benefit from this positive change. The situation on the financial market is also getting back to normal. The Best Bank in Slovakia award by the prestigious magazine Euromoney is also proof that we are doing a good job,” says Pavel Cetkovský, CFO and Member of the Board of Directors of Slovenská sporiteľňa.

Business performance overview of Slovenská sporiteľňa as of 30 June 2023
 

Net interest income went up by 20.2% y/y from EUR 213.3 million to EUR 256.4 million. The increase of net interest income is the result of growing loan portfolio and growing interest rates following the tightening of monetary policy by ECB. The bank managed to translate this increase of interest rates into an increase of interest income from loans which was partially offset by higher interest costs for deposits and other financial liabilities.

Net fee and commission income increased by 7.4% y/y from EUR 93.8 million to EUR 100.7 million. Fee and commission income from brokerage of insurance and payment services had a strong positive effect.

The bank recorded a net profit of EUR 11.0 million in net trading and fair value result (it was EUR 8.4 million in 2022) which is mainly attributable to derivative transactions.

General administrative expenses went up by 4.0% y/y to EUR 161.3 million (in 2022 it was EUR 155.1 million). Personal expenses increased by 13.6% y/y mainly because of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan, while other administrative expenses dropped by 6.6% mainly because of lower contribution to the Deposit Protection Fund.

Operating profit went up by EUR 47.1 million, accounting for an increase of 29.0%. Cost income ratio decreased to 43.5% compared with last year.

The bank recorded a net impairment loss on financial assets in the amount of EUR 22.5 million in 2023; it was EUR 24.9 million in 2022.

The share of defaulted loans on total loan volume decreased from 1.8% to 1.6% while the coverage with provisions improved from 114.4% to 122.4%.

The volume of loans products to customers (including loans, leasing and factoring) increased by 8.7% y/y and achieved EUR 18.5 billion. Retail loans remained virtually unchanged compared with last year. Housing loans grew by 6.5% (EUR 0.6 billion in absolute terms) and consumer loans went up by 6.5% (EUR 90 million in absolute terms). Slovenská sporiteľňa again confirmed its position as market leader in retail loans; its market share in retail loans reached 24.6% in May 2023.

Loans to corporate clients (including factoring and leasing products) increased by 30.3% y/y (by EUR 1.5 billion) and reached EUR 6.5 billion.

Deposits from customers rose from EUR 16.3 billion to EUR 17.0 billion compared with the year 2022 mainly owing to loans to corporate clients.