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Gdansk, March 7 (Reuters) –Poland’s largest lender PKO BP PKO.WA announced on Thursday that its fourth quarter net profit fell 60% due to high foreign currency mortgage loan provisions.
Quarterly net profit fell to 681 million zlotys (approximately $173 million), compared with lenders’ market consensus of 676 million zlotys.
Full-year bottom line increased by 66% year-on-year to PLN 5.5 billion, thanks to higher net interest income (NII) due to favorable interest rates.
NII increased by 24% to PLN 5.08 billion in the fourth quarter, but was unable to offset the PLK 1.99 billion foreign exchange mortgage provision reported by PKO in the same period, bringing annual costs to PLN 5.43 billion. rose to
Annual NII increased to 18.32 billion zlotys from 11.42 billion zlotys in the same period last year.
Polish banks have recently benefited from high interest rates, but profits have been under pressure for several years. Costs associated with a Swiss Franc mortgage.
By the end of last year, peacekeeping operations had signed 37,000 settlements related to Swiss franc loans, and by the end of the third quarter of 2023, nearly 35,000 settlements had been signed.
Quarterly net profit margin rose 34 basis points to 4.53%, while return on equity declined to 6% compared to 20.1% in the final quarter of 2022.
(1 dollar = 3.9458 zloty)
Report by Mateusz Labiega.Editing: Kim Cogill and Mrigank Dhaniwala