BH Bank has published its interim financial statements for the first half of the year, at the end of which the bank reported a 23% increase in operating income, from 552.5 million dinars at the end of June 2022 to 679.5 million dinars at June 30 this year.
This growth was mainly driven by the increase in interest and similar income by 100 million dinars to 509.5 million dinars.
In addition, commissions (in income) increased by 13% to 70.3 million dinars, while gains on trading portfolio and financial operations went up by 53% to 43.6 million dinars.
Income from the investment portfolio amounted to 56 million dinars compared to 52.7 million dinars in the previous year.
Banking operating expenses increased from 264 million dinars in June 2022 to 366.7 million dinars last June. As a result, net banking income (NBI) for the period was 8.4% higher at 312.8 million dinars, compared with 288.5 million in the first half of 2022.
Continuing its rigorous provisioning policy, at the end of the first half of 2023, the Bank withdrew a sum of 77.7 million dinars, representing the net risk provisioning that it allocated to cover the impairment of its loan portfolio, compared with a significantly lower volume recorded a year earlier, i.e. 44.1 million dinars.
This effort reflects the Bank’s determination to maintain its prudent risk management policy and to cover loans with a high probability of deterioration in quality, in anticipation of the requirements of the forthcoming adoption of IFRS.
It is also important to highlight the Bank’s efforts to control general operating expenses, which decreased by 3% to a total of 36.5 million dinars, compared to 37.7 million last year.
As a result, the Bank recorded a net profit of 59 million dinars at the end of the first half.
