Hapoalim leads Israel's banks in net profits for Q1
Major banks submit first-quarter performance reports. Hapoalim notes NIS 659M profit, Bank Leumi's revenue reach NIS 431M and FIBI's nets NIS 142M
Israel's major banks published their first-quarter performance reports on Wednesday and Thursday, with Bank Hapoalim recording the highest profits in Israel's banking industry for Q1-2012.
Despite seeing its net profit drop 26% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2011, Hapoalim raked in NIS 659 million, compared to NIS 431 million for Bank Leumi and NIS 142 million for the First International Bank of Israel.
Related stories:
- Bank Hapoalim notes NIS 2.74B profit
Bank Hapoalim extended NIS 244.8 billion in credit during the quarter, a drop of 0.7%. Credit extended to the business sector dropped 2.2% to NIS 102.6 billion.
The bank also saw its total deposits drop 1.9% to NIS 251.6 billion.
Bank Hapoalim's expenditures due to credit losses jumped from NIS 14 million in Q1 2011 to NIS 303 million for the quarter reported. The bank's business division marked NIS 205 million in credit losses, compared to the NIS 155 million in debt collection recorded in Q1 2011.
In contrast, Bank Leumi's net profit of NIS 431 million for Q1 marked a 22% increase compared to the corresponding quarter of 2011.
However, Leumi's profits were offset by credit losses totaling NIS 225 million for the quarter, compared to credit revenue of NIS 102 million in Q1-2011.
Leumi's net revenue from interest for the quarter reported comprised NIS 1.82 billion, nearly identical to the NIS 1.81 billion in corresponding quarter of 2011. However, the bank saw a 13.5% in its revenue from household accounts, which totaled NIS 681 million.
The First International Bank of Israel netted NIS 142 million in Q1 2012, a 21.5% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of 2011.
FIBI's expenditures resulting from credit losses for the quarter reported totaled NIS 31 million, compared to NIS 36 million in debt collection in Q1 2011.
The bank also collected NIS 45 million in fees, a drop of 11.6% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2011. However, FIBI saw a 3.9% increase in revenue from interest in Q1 as a result of improved credit margins, as well as a 5.4% reduction in operations expenditures.
FIBI's capital yields for the quarter totaled 9.9%, compared to 13.5% in Q1 2011, and the institution still leads Israel's banks in terms of capital adequacy ratio, with its ratio for Q1 2012 standing at 8.81%, compared to 8.46% at the end of 2011.
To compare, Hapoalim's capital adequacy ratio grew from 7.9% at the start of the year to 8.2% at the end of the quarter reported.
Shoham Levy contributed to this report
