Consolidated, unaudited financial results of Slovenská sporiteľňa as of 30 June 2022 according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

„We continue to achieve excellent results and despite difficult economic conditions, we were able to slightly increase our net profit. Mortgages were more popular than ever in the second quarter of the year, reaching record numbers. The main reason behind this was the fact that people wanted to obtain favourable loan conditions, because interest rates on the market continue to rise. Slovenská sporiteľňa recorded a y/y increase in the volume of housing loans by more than 13% at the end of the first half of 2022. Our colleagues from corporate banking have also been doing a great job, as corporate loans grew by more than 19% y/y, fostering the Slovak economy. We also introduced a good number of innovations and in April we came up with the first holographic banker based on artificial intelligence – Vesna. Our good performance and innovation is one of the reasons we were awarded as the Best Bank in Slovakia in 2021 by the prestigious magazine Euromoney,“ said Pavel Cetkovský, CFO and Member of the Board of Directors of Slovenská sporiteľňa.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS AS OF 30 JUNE 2022 (Y/Y COMPARISON) 

• Net interest income declined by 2.1% y/y from EUR 217.8 million to EUR 213.3 million
• Net fee and commission income increased by 18% y/y from EUR 79.5 million to EUR 93.8 million
• Operating profit rose by 4.9% y/y from EUR 155.0 million to EUR 162.5 million
• Net profit after tax increased to EUR 99.8 million (2021: EUR 91.1 million)
• Volume of loans and receivables to customers (including loans, leasing and factoring) grew by 13,5% y/y from EUR 15.0 billion to EUR 17.0 billion
• Deposits from customers increased by 4.3% y/y from EUR 15.6 billion to EUR 16.3 billion 
• Cost income ratio reached 48.8%
• Capital adequacy reached 20.16% and continues to considerably exceed the limit stipulated by the law (according to ECB/NBS, Basel III and IRB approach)
• Loan-to-deposit ratio increased y/y from 93.7% to 101.8%

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW OF SLOVENSKÁ SPORITEĽŇA AS OF 30 JUNE 2022

Net interest income went down by 2.1% y/y from EUR 217.8 million to EUR 213.3 million. This decrease is a result of last year's one-off effect of the TLTRO operation in the amount of EUR 12.9 million. Without this effect, net interest income grew by 4.1% y/y owing to the growth of interest rates on loan products.

Net fee and commission income increased by 18.0% y/y from EUR 79.5 million to EUR 93.8 million. Income from payments services saw a considerable increase (approx. EUR 8.2 million) due to switching to a single card company and so did fee and commission income from brokerage of insurance and investment into mutual funds (increase by EUR 5.6 million).

The bank recorded a net profit of EUR 8.4 million in net trading and fair value result (it was EUR 3.9 million in 2021) which is mainly attributable to derivative transactions.

General administrative expenses went up by 4.9% y/y to EUR 155.1 million (in 2021 it was EUR 147.9 million). Personal expenses increased by 0.9%, while other administrative expenses grew by 10.2% mainly because of higher IT costs. Write-offs grew by 5.1%. 

Operating profit went up by EUR 7.5 million, accounting for an increase of 4.9%. Cost income ratio remained unchanged at 48.8% compared with last year. The bank recorded a net impairment loss on financial assets in the amount of EUR 24.9 million in the first half of 2022; it was EUR 26.0 million in the first half of 2021 (y/y decrease by 4.2%).

The share of defaulted loans on total loan volume decreased from 2.3% to 1.8% while the coverage with provisions improved from 110.0% to 114.4%.

Consolidated profit after tax reached EUR 99.8 mil.

The volume of loans products to customers (including loans, leasing and factoring) increased by 13.5% y/y and achieved EUR 17.0 billion. Retail loans were the major driving force; they increased by 10.9% y/y (by EUR 1.2  billion) compared with 2021. Slovenská sporiteľňa again confirmed its position as market leader in retail loans; its market share in retail loans reached 24,6% in June 2022. The main growth driver were housing loans which grew by 13.3% (EUR 1.2 billion in absolute terms), while consumer loans went down by 2.3% y/y (by EUR 0.03 billion in absolute terms).     

Loans to corporate clients (including factoring and leasing products) increased by 19.2% y/y (by EUR 0.8 billion) and reached EUR 5.0 billion. After consideration of financing in the form of purchased debt securities, the total client exposure is EUR 5.1 billion.

Retail deposits increased slightly from EUR 13.81 billion to EUR 13.84 billion, providing a solid base for financing and room for further growth of the bank. Deposits from customers rose from EUR 15.6 billion to EUR 16.3 billion compared with the year 2021.