Bank Of Cyprus Sinks To Loss But Continues Bad Loan Disposals

(Alliance News) - Bank of Cyprus Holdings PLC on Friday sunk to a loss in the first nine months ...

Alliance News 27 November, 2020 | 12:51PM
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(Alliance News) - Bank of Cyprus Holdings PLC on Friday sunk to a loss in the first nine months of 2020, but remains committed to lowering its non-performing loans exposure.

In the nine months to September 30, the lender slipped to a pretax loss attributable to shareholders of EUR9 million compared to a EUR56 million profit the year before.

Net interest income slipped to EUR250 million from EUR260 million. Net fee & commission income fell to EUR106 million from EUR111 million. Bank of Cyprus' total income fell 14% year on year to EUR425 million from EUR495 million.

Loan credit losses in the nine-month period were broadly flat year on year at EUR118 million from EUR117 million the year before. The lender's allowance for expected loan credit loans losses at the end of September stood at EUR1.93 billion.

"Signs of economic recovery to pre-pandemic levels marked the third quarter of the year, with the Cypriot economy showing more resilience than initially anticipated, proving its open, small and flexible characteristics. However, as the number of new Covid-19 cases has increased in recent weeks, local restrictions have been re-imposed to contain the spread, which is likely to lead to some loss of momentum in economic recovery in the fourth quarter. The latest news for an effective vaccine is encouraging, which in time should support a return to more normal conditions," Chief Executive Panicos Nicolaou said.

Bank of Cyprus ended September with a customer loan book of EUR10.05 billion, down from EUR10.72 billion at the end of December.

The lender's net interest margin in the nine-month period slipped to 1.87% from 1.92%.

Its non-performing loans ratio improved to 21% from 26% at the end of December, as its risk-weighted assets dropped to EUR11.88 billion from EUR12.89 billion.

Customer deposits slipped to EUR16.38 billion from EUR16.69 billion nine months earlier.

Its cost-to-income ratio worsened slightly to 64% from 62%.

Bank of Cyprus's CET 1 ratio slipped to 14.6% from 14.8% at the end of 2019.

In the third quarter, Bank of Cyprus recorded attributable pretax profit of EUR4 million, which is down from the EUR7 million reported in the second quarter. The lender's loan credit losses rose to EUR31 million compared to EUR23 million in the previous quarter.

The lender recorded net interest income of EUR82 million in the third quarter, with total income of EUR137 million.

"During the third quarter of the year we continued to support the Cypriot economy and extended a further EUR288 million in new loans, up by over 20% compared to the previous quarter, as new demand increased post lockdown, driven by retail housing, supported by the government's interest rate subsidy scheme. Overall, we have granted about EUR1 billion new loans in the first nine months of the year," Nicolaou continued.

He added: "We remain committed to completing the de-risking of the balance sheet and we will continue to assess the potential to accelerate NPE reduction through additional sales. At the same time, we continue to monitor the credit quality of loans under moratorium."

Shares in Bank of Cyprus were 2.8% higher in London on Friday at EUR0.66 each.

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Bank of Cyprus Holdings PLC 316.00 GBX 0.00 -

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