ZAGREBACKA BANKA REPORTS 60% INCREASE IN PRE-TAX PROFIT

ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - Zagrebacka Banka d.d. said on Thursday its pre-tax profit had grown by 60 per cent in the first half of 1997 in comparison to the same period last year. In the first six months of this year the bank's loans to corporate and retail customers, totalling 1.18 billion kuna, increased by 14 per cent compared to the 1996 year end. Citizens' kuna savings rose by 37.5 per cent, or 319 million kuna, in the first six months, while the increase in new foreign currency deposits was 16.7 per cent, or 922 million kuna, the bank said in a statement. From the beginning of the year to June 30, the price of Zagrebacka Banka shares went up by 82 per cent, while the proportions of international investors within the bank's ownership structure grew from 24 per cent to 31 per cent in the same period. Early this year the bank was granted a DM 400 million syndicated loan, the largest syndicated loan to be granted to a commercial bank in Central and Eastern Europe. The bank said it was pleased that Friedrich von Schwarzenberg of the Union Bank of Switzerland and Charles McVeigh III of Solomon Brothers, London, had become members of its supervisory board. (hina) vm mm 251655 MET sep 97