Bank Millennium’s H1 profits sink 79%

Bank Millennium in Poland, 50.1% held by BCP, profited 16.2 million euros in the first half of 2020, a 79% fall compared to the same period of the previous year. The information was given in a communiqué sent to the Portuguese regulator (CMVM).

Several factors explain the drop in net profit. The main reason is the provisions related to “legal risks associated with loans granted in foreign currency,” for 38.1 million euros, but also the provisions to prevent possible impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the amount equivalent to 15.7 million euros. The bank also set up 13.7 million euros of provisions “related to the early repayment of personal loans.”

Thus, the bank indicates that, excluding the so-called “unusual items”, net income would have risen 8% in the semester to 89.1 million euros. This category also includes the integration costs of the Euro Bank valued at eight million euros, as well as the annual mandatory contributions to the Bank Guarantee Fund for an amount of 13.2 million euros.

The bank’s operating income increased by 14% year-on-year, driven by the integration of Euro Bank, while net interest income increased by 23% and commission income by 10%. Conversely, operating costs grew by 22%.

Bank Millennium already has 2.62 million active customers in Poland, a number that, at the end of June, was 34% higher than the same period last year, or 45,600 customers since the beginning of the year.