Six Bulgarian banks have plunged into losses for the first quarter of the year, showed figures by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).
Only three banks slipped into negative territory for the same quarter of last year. Of the 30 players in the Bulgarian banking sector, three lifted profits on an annual basis, while the other saw their performance deteriorate between 2.1% and 91.6% year-on-year. Investbank and Unionbank have shrunk profits more than twofold between January and March 2010 compared to the corresponding period of 2009, posting losses. The other four banks that booked losses for the period include the local branch of Slovenia’s NLB Banka, the local branch of Turkey’s TC Ziraat Bankasi, Emporiki Bank and the local branch of Greece’ Alpha Bank, as the online English edition of Dnevnik Daily informs.
For the same period of last year, Emporiki Bank, Alpha Bank and Teximbank reported losses, joined by Bank Leumi Romania, which pulled out of the Bulgarian market. The combined profit of the Bulgarian banking sector added up to BGN 170 million for the first quarter of 2010. Profits tanked under the weight of expenses made to cover non-performing loans and to pay out overtly generous deposit interest rates. Write-downs soared by 76% to BGN 285.3 million from BGN 162 million for the first quarter of 2009.
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Six Bulgarian banks bleed red ink Q1 2010
Six Bulgarian banks have plunged into losses for the first quarter of the year, showed figures by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB).
Only three banks slipped into negative territory for the same quarter of last year. Of the 30 players in the Bulgarian banking sector, three lifted profits on an annual basis, while the other saw their performance deteriorate between 2.1% and 91.6% year-on-year. Investbank and Unionbank have shrunk profits more than twofold between January and March 2010 compared to the corresponding period of 2009, posting losses. The other four banks that booked losses for the period include the local branch of Slovenia’s NLB Banka, the local branch of Turkey’s TC Ziraat Bankasi, Emporiki Bank and the local branch of Greece’ Alpha Bank, as the online English edition of Dnevnik Daily informs.
For the same period of last year, Emporiki Bank, Alpha Bank and Teximbank reported losses, joined by Bank Leumi Romania, which pulled out of the Bulgarian market. The combined profit of the Bulgarian banking sector added up to BGN 170 million for the first quarter of 2010. Profits tanked under the weight of expenses made to cover non-performing loans and to pay out overtly generous deposit interest rates. Write-downs soared by 76% to BGN 285.3 million from BGN 162 million for the first quarter of 2009.
