By Margit Feher
BUDAPEST--Hungary's banks continued to book losses in the third
quarter, driving the sector into the red in the first nine months
of this year, data released Friday by the financial market
regulator, PSZAF, showed.
The net loss of the third quarter totaled 8.4 billion forints
($38.7 million), down from a net loss of HUF30.4 billion in the
second quarter, resulting in a net loss of HUF1.1 billion in the
January-September period.
The figures indicate that most of the losses were amassed by the
banks owned by foreign lenders, including UniCredit SpA (UCG.MI),
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI.VI) and Erste Group Bank AG
(EBS.VI) of Austria.
OTP Bank Nyrt. (OTP.BU), the largest bank by both market share
and assets and the only major Hungarian bank without a foreign
parent, said last week that its third-quarter consolidated net
profit was HUF42.54 billion, including a net profit of HUF27.03
billion at its core, Hungarian operations.
The share of non-performing loans of the overall loan stock was
13.8%, up from 13.6% in the previous quarter.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@dowjones.com
