Czech and Slovak UniCredit Bank posted a net profit of CZK 8.22 billion (EUR 341 million) last year, a 21 percent year-on-year increase. This is according to information published by the bank’s parent company on Tuesday. Other banks in the Czech Republic have not yet published their results for last year.
UniCredit Bank’s deposit volume rose 10.5 percent year-on-year to CZK 500 billion last year. According to the announcement, the volume of loans increased by 10.9 percent to CZK 516 billion.
The bank’s net fee and commission income rose 10.4 percent year-on-year to CZK 3.72 billion, while net interest income rose 18.5 percent to CZK 14.45 billion, it said. The bank’s net operating profit rose 25.7 percent to CZK 11.3 billion.
In the wake of the energy crisis and rising electricity and gas prices, the government has decided to impose a windfall tax on the biggest banks.
It approved it as a 60 percent tax surcharge on excessive profits. According to the proposal, this corresponds to the difference between the tax base and the average cost of the tax base over the last four years, plus 20 percent.
UniCredit Bank started operations on the Czech market in November 2007. It was created by the integration of HVB Bank and Živnostenská banka. UniCredit Bank has more than 880,000 clients in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Italian banking group UniCredit increased its net profit by 64 percent to 5.4 billion euros (CZK 128.6 billion) last year. The bank benefited mainly from higher interest rates, a series of cost-saving measures, and a reduction in loan loss provisions. The results exclude business in Russia.