By Martin M. Sobczyk

WARSAW--PKO Bank Polski SA (PKO.WA), Poland's largest bank by assets, said Monday that second-quarter net profit grew 24% in annual terms, helped by a gain from the sale of its interest in Visa Europe.

PKO Bank Polski made a net profit of 873.5 million zlotys ($226 million), with PLN338.2 million generated by Visa Inc.'s takeover of Visa Europe, the bank said.

Visa purchased the European operations in June in a deal discussed by European banks since 2013 that significantly expanded Visa's footprint as it battles for a bigger share of the international market.

PKO Bank Polski's second-quarter net interest income rose 13% to PLN1.9 billion while fee and commission income fell 12% to PLN666 million. Asset impairment charges grew 7% to PLN400 million.

On Friday the state-controlled Polish bank's shares closed 0.2% higher while Warsaw's blue-chip WIG20's fell 0.3%.

-Write to Martin M. Sobczyk at martin.sobczyk@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 29, 2016 02:44 ET (06:44 GMT)