TBC profit rises on higher income, lower credit loss

TBC Bank's third-quarter profit rose by a fifth as Georgia's biggest lender increased income and set aside less for credit losses.

Net profit for the three months to the end of September rose 20.4% to GEL152.6m from GEL126.8m a year earlier as net interest income rose 9.4% to GEL211.8m. Pretax profit rose 15.6% to GEL164.5m.

The bank set aside GEL13.4m for credit losses - 48% less than a year earlier. Costs rose 1.6% to GEL113.5m and the cost-income ratio dropped to 38.7% from 39.9%.

The FTSE 250 group said Georgia's economy continued to recover from the first wave of Covid-19 in the third quarter, contracting 3.8% compared with a 12.3% drop in the second quarter. GDP shrank 0.7% in September.

However, the resurgence of the pandemic, combined with the regional conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is putting downward pressure on the recovery, TBC said.

Chief Executive Vakhtang Butskhrikidze said: "In the post-Covid-19 reality, when the need for remote solutions has soared, our strong focus on digitalisation has become ever more relevant. Thus, we remain committed to our vision of making people's life easier by creating customer centric, digital financial solutions, integrated with other products and services used by our clients on a daily basis."