Credit growth in 2024 gave more profit – diepresse.com
The interest surplus has increased by 4.2 percent. The profit is EUR 3.1 billion.
The first Group Bank helped growth in the lending business and the deposits in the 2024 financial year for more income and profit. The bottom line was that a net profit of EUR 3.1 billion was an increase of 4.3 percent for the previous year. Especially in the CEE daughters, things go uphill. « Two thirds of our profit come from our banks to Central and Eastern Europe, » said Bank boss Peter Bosek on Friday.
The « pursuit of prosperity in these regions » is unbroken, said Bosek, who still sees room for improvement in the region. « The future potential is also here. » The credit quality in the CEE countries is still very good, but in Austria the lack of economic recovery. The quota of necessary loans (non-perfecting Loans/NPL) therefore increased from 2.3 to 2.6 percent in the previous year. However, this is within the framework of expectations, according to the bank.
Appetite for loans increased again
However, the appetite of customers for credit continues to increase, especially in the final quarter of 2024 this has grown. The customer credit volume increased by 4.9 percent to EUR 218.1 billion in 2024. The deposits, which rose by 3.8 percent to EUR 241.7 billion, also went upwards. This also influenced the income. The interest surplus increased due to the loan business, but also due to falling interest expenses by 4.2 percent to EUR 7.5 billion, the commission surplus increased by 11.3 percent to EUR 2.9 billion.
For the year 2025, the bank expects about five percent of around five percent and an equity interest (red) of around 15 percent. The background is the assumption that the economic environment in the core markets remains robust and even improves slightly compared to the previous year. (APA)
