THE AGGREGATE after-tax profits of Slovak banks amounted to €480 million in 2012, a fall of 29 percent compared to 2011. The drop was caused in particular by the introduction of a special bank levy and a one-off extraordinary bank levy, together with an increase in credit risk charges and provided guarantees, the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) announced on April 16, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
Slovak banks in total paid €170 million in the form of bank levies, representing 35 percent of their overall reported profits.
“An ongoing drop in the interest rate margins also influenced the banks negatively,” the Slovak central bank reported in its Slovak Financial Sector Analysis for 2012.
The profitability of the commercial credit portfolio fell, reflecting falling interest rates and tougher competition.
