Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) today reported a net profit of NIS 625 million (NIS 0.47 per share) for the third quarter of 2012, up 32% from NIS 471 million in the corresponding quarter of 2011, and NIS 607 million in the preceding quarter of 2012. The bank said that return on equity reached 10.2%, on an annualized basis, compared with 8.5% in the corresponding quarter of 2011, and similar to the second quarter of 2012. Profit from regular financing activity totaled NIS 2.024 billion, similar to the second quarter of 2012.
The bank's capital adequacy ratio totaled 15.1% compared with 14.1% at the end of 2011. Core Tier 1 capital ratio rose to 8.5% compared with 7.9% at the end of 2011.
Bank Hapoalim's total income reached NIS 3.45 billion in the third quarter of 2012 of which NIS 2.115 billion was from financing activities and NIS 1.335 billion was from fees and other income. Total income in the corresponding quarter of 2011 was NIS 2.958 billion.
Bank Hapoalim beat the "Globes" Psagot analysts' consensus, which had forecast profit of NIS 0.45 per share on total income of NIS 3.44 billion.
Net credit to the public rose to NIS 249.9 billion up 1.4% from NIS 246.5 billion at the end of 2011, mainly as a result of an increase in retail and commercial credit. Deposits from the public totaled NIS 264.5 billion compared with NIS 256.4 billion at the end of 2011, an increase of 3.1%. The increase was mainly a result of increased core deposits in the retail segment in Israel, which were partially offset by a decrease in deposits in the corporate segment, the bank said.
Provision for credit losses in the third quarter of 2012 totaled NIS 286 million compared with NIS 344 million in the previous quarter. The rate of provision as a percentage of credit to the public reached 0.45% at the end of the third quarter compared with 0.55% in the previous quarter. The decrease, the bank said, resulted from a decline in the provision for debt examined on an individual basis.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 29, 2012
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