November 15 (SeeNews) - Serbian blue-chip lender Komercijalna banka [BEL:KMBN] recorded a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 29.2% at the end of September, significantly above the minimum set by the central bank, CEO Vladimir Medan said on Thursday.
Komercijalna banka remains among the market leaders in terms of the amount of share capital, while its performance is characterised by excessive liquidity and capitalisation, Medan said, as quoted in an e-mailed statement by the lender.
"In addition, the growth of loans to customers in the first nine months of this year is very important, of 10.5 billion dinars, or 6.8% on the year," Medan said.
Komercijalna banka said on Wednesday its net profit declined 6.1% to 6.5 billion dinars ($62 million/55 million euro) in the first nine months of 2018.
The lender's net interest income fell 1.3% to 9.6 billion dinars, while net fee and commission income grew 2.9% to 3.9 billion dinars, Komercijalna said in an interim financial statement filed with the Belgrade Stock Exchange.
The government owns 41.74% of the capital of Komercijalna banka, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) controls a 24.43% shareholding interest.
Earlier this year, in a statement on the 30-month Policy Coordination Instrument-supported programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Serbian government said it plans to complete the sale of Komercijalna Banka by the end of September 2019. The authorities will adopt a decision to initiate the privatisation of Komercijalna by end-February 2019 and the tender is expected to be launched by end-June 2019.
(1 euro = 118.217 dinars)