BIGGEST CROATIAN BANK EARNS NET PROFIT OF 387 MILLION KUNA IN 2001

ZAGREB, March 8 (Hina) - The biggest Croatian bank, Zagrebacka Banka (ZABA), had a successful financial year in 2001, increasing its balance by 27 percent, from 32.4 billion to 41.08 billion kuna, and earning a net profit of 387 million kuna, said Tomica Pustisek, a member of ZABA's management, on Friday. The ZABA group, including Zagrebacka Banka BH Mostar and the Univerzal Banka Sarajevo, reached a balance 48 billion kuna, while the net profit of the group amounted to 463 million kuna. The Zagrebacka Banka group, said Pustisek, accounts for one third of assets of the banking sector in Croatia and one fourth in Bosnia. Overall deposits at the group level rose by 10 billion kuna, to 37.3 billion kuna, while ZABA's deposits grew by 33 percent, to 31.5 billion kuna. A total of 23.17 billion kuna are citizens' deposits, while almost 8.1 billion kuna are legal persons' deposits. The bank's overall loan amount on the last day of last year reached 16.3 billion kuna, of which 8.8 billion kuna went to legal persons and 7.57 billion kuna to citizens, said Pustisek. After two years of stagnation, loans for legal persons increased for the first time in 2001, and new loan approvals for citizens totalled more than 1.85 billion kuna, Pustisek said. (hina) np sb