CYPRUS: Co-op Q1 profits at €28 mln, NPLs below 50%

The Cooperative Central Bank, the state-owned banking group bailed out with EUR 1.5 bln last year, announced profits of EUR 28 mln for the first quarter ending March 31, mainly due to operational earnings that in Q1 amounted to EUR 42 mln.

 
Compared with the first quarter of 2015, net profits recorded a decline of 24.5% or EUR 9.1 mln due to the reduction in interest income as lending rates declined.
The bank’s capital adequacy ratio (CET1) rose marginally from 15.6% in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 15.7%.
“Maintaining and improving the CET1 ratio shows the Co-operative sector’s ability to produce value and a robust organisation ready to face challenges stemming from the need to tackle the problem of non performing exposures and the provision of healthy financing to the real economy,” the Co-operative Central Bank said in a press release.
The Co-ops’ coverage ratio remained broadly unchanged at 53% in Q1 2016 from 53.4% in Q5 2015.
Non performing loans declined below 50% of total loans for the first time since the financial crisis back in 2013, the CCB said.
Restructuring in Q1 2016 totalled EUR 323 mln, while the cure ratio stands at 76%, the CCB added, noting that in the coming months loans amounting to 7.7% of the total loan portfolio will be removed from the NPL list.
Deposits in Q1 2016 amounted to EUR 12.54 bln with gross loans amounting to EUR 12.53 bln, with total provisions amounting to EUR 3.31 bln.
“The Co-ops’ strong balance sheet is a result of the great progress recorded on all levels and constitutes the basis for the continuation and the increase of its leading position in the banking sector of Cyprus with the sole aim for progress of the society and the economy,” the CCB said.
It added that the comfortable liquidity with no exposure to the ECB emergency liquidity or other ECB monetary operations create the conditions for the support of the Cypriot economic activity in the great effort to restore the economy to sustainable growth rates.”