MOSCOW, March 30 (Reuters) - UniCredit Bank, a Russian arm of Italian UniCredit, said on Wednesday its net profit almost doubled to 10.1 billion roubles ($353.5 million) last year, helped by a cut in allocations for bad loan provisions.
UniCredit Bank increased its loan portfolio by 13 percent last year, in line with the overall banking system growth.
The lender, Russia's eight biggest by assets, said the improvement was chiefly down to a cut in allocations for bad loan provisions, which fell by almost 40 percent to 5.6 billion roubles.
Mikhail Alekseev, the head of UniCredit's operations in Russia, said he expects this year's net profit to be at same level as in 2010, when the economy started to rebound from the global financial crisis.
'Not less,' he told journalists, when asked if net profit be the same as in 2010.
Alekseev added that UniCredit Bank, Russia's largest foreign lender by assets, wants to further increase its presence in the country.
'Russia remains one of the top-priority markets for our group. We have a very positive view on the prospects of the market and will do our best to increase our presence,' he said.
British bank Barclays said last month it would sell its Russia's retail unit, extending the list of foreign banks leaving Russia under pressure from state-owned rivals.
State-owned banks control around 65 percent of Russia's top-100 banks' assets, according to Reuters estimates, with Sberbank accounting for almost 50 percent of deposits in the banking system.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Louise Heavens)
($1=28.57 Rouble) Keywords: RUSSIA UNICREDIT/PROFIT (ekaterina.golubkova@reuters.com, +7 495 775 1242) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
UniCredit Bank increased its loan portfolio by 13 percent last year, in line with the overall banking system growth.
The lender, Russia's eight biggest by assets, said the improvement was chiefly down to a cut in allocations for bad loan provisions, which fell by almost 40 percent to 5.6 billion roubles.
Mikhail Alekseev, the head of UniCredit's operations in Russia, said he expects this year's net profit to be at same level as in 2010, when the economy started to rebound from the global financial crisis.
'Not less,' he told journalists, when asked if net profit be the same as in 2010.
Alekseev added that UniCredit Bank, Russia's largest foreign lender by assets, wants to further increase its presence in the country.
'Russia remains one of the top-priority markets for our group. We have a very positive view on the prospects of the market and will do our best to increase our presence,' he said.
British bank Barclays said last month it would sell its Russia's retail unit, extending the list of foreign banks leaving Russia under pressure from state-owned rivals.
State-owned banks control around 65 percent of Russia's top-100 banks' assets, according to Reuters estimates, with Sberbank accounting for almost 50 percent of deposits in the banking system.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Louise Heavens)
($1=28.57 Rouble) Keywords: RUSSIA UNICREDIT/PROFIT (ekaterina.golubkova@reuters.com, +7 495 775 1242) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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