The banking sector of Serbia operated in the corona year with a profit, but not nearly as much as in previous years. Banks earned 390 million euros in 2020, before taxes.
A year earlier, their profit was 573 million euros, also before taxes. Calculated, their profits fell by as much as 32 percent. As a reminder, in 2018, banks earned around 600 million euros, after taxes.
There are no surprises on the list of banks that operated with a profit. Intesa maintained its leading position with a salary of 80.5 million euros, which was reduced by 23.1 percent compared to the year before. In second place is UniCredit with earnings of 45 million euros and a drop in profit of 35.52 percent, Politika writes.
On the third are collectively Komercijalna with its new owner NLB and their salaries last year amounted to 27 million euros with a drop of 65.83 percent. In the fourth place are also two banks of the same owner, OTP and Vojvodjanska, whose profit before taxes was 10.1 million euros, and they have the biggest drop in profit of as much as 88.84 percent.
What is the cause of the decline in the profitability of this industry, which, by the way, earns well, that is, the decline in the return on capital? The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) says that the main reason is that banks have increased provisions for potential credit losses in 2020.
“The net result of the banking sector before taxes in 2019 amounted to 573 million euros, and despite the unfavorable circumstances caused by the pandemic, a satisfactory level of profitability of the banking sector was maintained in 2020 with a net result before tax at the end of last year of 390 million euros. With the constant growth of credit activity, the stated results were achieved with significantly more favorable conditions for financing the economy and citizens,” the central bank states, Bonitet reports.
