ZAGREB, April 27 (Hina) - Commercial banks in Croatia registered a gross profit of 2.589 billion kuna in 2002, with a 20-percent climb in comparison to their pre-tax profits of 2.149 billion kuna in 2001, according to provisional
figures released by the Croatian National Bank on its web site.
ZAGREB, April 27 (Hina) - Commercial banks in Croatia registered a
gross profit of 2.589 billion kuna in 2002, with a 20-percent climb
in comparison to their pre-tax profits of 2.149 billion kuna in
2001, according to provisional figures released by the Croatian
National Bank on its web site. #L#
Profits were made by 42 banks, while four (4) banks had losses in
their business activities last year. In 2001, 43 banks reported
gross profits.
The two leading banks (owned by Italian banking groups), Zagrebacka
Banka with 736 million kuna and Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) with
689 million kuna, accounted for 55 percent of all the banks' pre-tax
profits in Croatia last year.
They are followed by these three bank (owned by Austrian banking
groups) -- Splitska, Raiffeisenbank Austria and Hypo Alpe-Adria-
Bank. Thus, the quoted five banks made up 74 percent of total pre-
tax profits, and those banks also hold nearly two thirds of the
total assets of the Croatian banking sector.
Assets of all the 46 commercial banks in Croatia rose by 17.5
percent to 174.4 billion kuna in the end of 2002, and more than 90
percent of those assets were held by banks owned by foreign groups.
The bank at the top of the list according to the volume of assets and
profits was Zagrebacka Banka (owned by UniCredito) holding 46.2
billion kuna of assets. It made the biggest pre-tax profit of 736.7
million kuna.
In 2002, it was followed by PBZ, owned by Italy's IntesaBci, with
30.7 billion kuna of assets and a 689.8 million gross profit.
The first Croatian state-owned commercial bank to be found on this
list is Hrvatska Postanska Banka (Croatian Postal Bank) which
occupies the eighth place with assets worth above 5.5 billion kuna
and the gross profit of 67.5 million kuna.
Of a total of 46 commercial banks in Croatia, 23 are owned by
foreigners, 21 are domestic privately owned financial
institutions, and two are state-owned, the above-mentioned
Postanska Banka (HPB) and Croatia Banka.
(1EUR = 7.5 kuna)
(hina) ms