Credit Europe’s net income increases to €49 million

In the first half of 2010 Credit Europe Bank increased its net income by 75 per cent to €49 million compared to the first six months of 2009. This is the consequence of a decrease of impairments charges and an increase of net fee- and commission income, coupled with strictly controlled and managed operational expenses, the bank said.

The Tier 1 ratio increased from 9.21 per cent at the end of 2009 to 10.44 per cent at the end of H1 2010 due to the increase in net profit as well as due to an increase of €103 million perpetual Tier 1 capital while at the same time repaying subordinated loans for the same amount.

The bank said it voluntarily applied the recent EU wide stress test exercise on its trading and loan book.

“The results suggest strong resilience. The estimated impact on the Tier 1 capital of a ‘zero-growth’ stress test is a drop of 0.6 per cent on the 2011 estimated Tier 1 ratio, bringing the bank to a level of 11.2 per cent at the end of 2011. This is a limited impact in comparison to the estimated EU wide impact of two per cent point, due to the fact that Credit Europe Bank has limited exposure to the countries where the impact of the stress test assumes to be most severe,” it said.

The total trade finance volume increased more than 20 per cent on average compared to the first half of 2009, including significant contributions of the subsidiaries in Switzerland and in the United Arab Emirates. This increase was achieved despite stable levels of commodity prices, and was the result of a strong focus on customer acquisition. In the same period, the net fee- and commission income on corporate banking activities increased by 21 per cent to €18.9 million.

The total savings and deposits portfolio in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Malta amounted to €5.1 billion at the end of the first half of 2010 compared to €5.6 billion at the end of 2009, in line with the bank’s policy to diversify its funding structure and to reduce its excess liquidity level. In May, the renowned business magazine €uro and the German Institute for Social Sciences (S.W.I) announced the results of a test among more than 50 German banks. Credit Europe Bank’s Top Time Deposit was ranked in the top five of time deposits due to, among others, its good conditions and service.

Credit Europe Bank NV, founded in 1994, is an international financial services group, ranked in the top 10 of Dutch banks with a total balance sheet of around €10 billion. Serving around three million customers worldwide with more than 5,000 employees working from close to 200 branches in 11 countries, the bank’s mission is to offer tailor-made corporate banking services and easy-to-use and efficiently delivered retail products.