The banking sector in Slovakia recorded a year-on-year improvement in net profit of 0.3 percent to €241.6 million over the first five months of this year. The profit of the sector improved for the second month in the row this year. The profitability of the sector was dropping previously due to the formation of provisions for non-performing loans while the bank levy had a negative impact, too.
Income from interest was decreasing as well due to falling margins. Last year, according to preliminary data, the banking sector posted a taxed profit of €488.2 million. In an annual comparison this is a drop of 27 percent. The main cause according to banks is declining revenue from their core activity, thus a decrease of net interest income. Furthermore, it was the disproportionately high bank levy. Last year, banks paid a special bank levy of almost €170 million, representing nearly 0.3 percent of total assets of the banking sector.
