KBC Bank recorded a net profit of €811 million in the second quarter of the year, an increase from €793 million in the same period a year earlier.
The bank said there was a €2 million loss at its Irish business, which included a €17 million loss of once-off effects related to the sale of its Irish business, which is now part of KBC’s group centre unit. At the beginning of the year, the Irish arm of the business was moved from the international markets business unit as it prepares to exit the Irish market.
The group centre recorded a €41 million loss in the second quarter, up €8 million from the first quarter of 2022 and an improvement of €1 million on the same three months a year earlier.
Overall, KBC said it recorded a loan loss impairment charge of €9 million in the quarter, compared with a net release of €15 million in the previous quarter. That included the release of the remaining €50 million impairment previously recorded for the coronavirus crisis, the negative impact of a €14 million net charge for individual loans that were almost entirely related to Irish sale, and a €45 million charge for geopolitical and emerging risks.
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Expenses excluding bank taxes were down 3 per cent quarter-on-quarter, but up 4 per cent year-on-year.
“Quarter-on-quarter total income was more or less stable, with the increases in net interest income, technical insurance income, dividend income and net other income being offset by lower trading, and fair value income and net fee and commission income,” Johan Thijs, KBC’s chief executive said. “Costs decreased significantly due to the fact that the bulk of the bank taxes for the full year had been recorded in the previous quarter (apart from a new additional tax in Hungary that was booked in the quarter under review). We recorded a small net increase in loan loss impairment, as limited net charges for individual loans (virtually all of which related to the sale transaction in Ireland) and an increase in the reserve for geopolitical and emerging risks were almost entirely offset by the full reversal of the remaining reserve for the coronavirus crisis.”
The bank said it would pay out an interim dividend of €1 per share in November 2022 as an advance on the total dividend for the financial year.
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