International Property News

Czech banks' net profits up 24% in 2007

31st March 2008

Net earnings at Czech banks rose by 24 percent year-on-year to Kc47.1bn in 2007, according to data released by the Czech National Bank (CNB) Monday.

In 2006, Czech banks' net earnings fell slightly to Kc38bn.

The number of banks operating on the Czech market stood at 37 at end-2007, like a year earlier. The market was newly joined by the Polish BRE Bank, through its e-banking unit mBank, while Zivnostenska banka merged with HVB Bank into UniCredit Bank.

The three largest domestic banks, Ceska sporitelna, CSOB and Komercni banka, altogether last year generated net profit exceeding Kc34bn, Kc5bn more than in 2006.

Ceska sporitelna, which has the highest number of clients, last year saw its net consolidated profit rise by 17 percent to the record-high Kc12.15bn.

Komercni banka's net consolidated profit grew by 22 percent to Kc11.23bn.

The profit of Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, which is the largest by the volume of assets, added 13.6 percent to Kc10.84bn.

Profits from financial activities of all domestic banks last year increased by 14 percent yr/yr to Kc133.5bn.

Out of this, the banks' net interest income rose by almost 19 percent to Kc84.9bn, net profit from fees and commissions went up by 8 percent to Kc35.7bn, and administrative costs were higher by nearly Kc4bn at Kc59.6bn.

The banks' total assets added 19 percent to Kc3,750bn in end-December 2007.

Capital adequacy of Czech banks rose from 11.41 percent at the end of 2006 to 11.53 percent at the end of 2007.

There are eight banks on the Czech market controlled by Czech owners and 29 banks controlled by foreign entities.

At the end of September 2007, the banks employed 41,207 staff altogether.