Credit Bank of Moscow reports rise in nine-month profits alongside sharp drop in NPLs

Credit Bank of Moscow posted a sharp rise in profits for the first nine months of the year even as it cut its non-performing loans sharply.

Russia's second largest private lender and sixth in terms of assets reported a 14.2% jump in profits after tax for the nine months ending in September to reach 18.4bn roubles ($279.8m), alongside a 15.9% increase in net interest income before provisions to 36.6bn roubles ($557.9m).

That was despite a 14.1% year-to-date reduction in the lender's gross loan portfolio to 703.5bn roubles ($10.7bn), while customer deposits grew by 15.1% to 1.1trn roubles ($16.5bn).

Significantly, CBoM managed to slash its ratio of non-performing loans from 2.4% in the third quarter of 2017 to 1.5% for the three months to September and increased its Tier-1 capital buffer from 15.0% at the end of 2017 to 15.1%.

The lender's provisioning rate on the other hand was unchanged from the year-end 2017 level of 6.1%, although its net interest margin dipped by a tenth of a percentage point from the level seen over the first nine months of 2017 to reach 2.7%.

Earnings per share on the other hand fell by 11.9% over the latest nine-month stretch to hit 0.59 roubles.