On its 4th regular annual meeting the Supervisory Board reviewed the report on the business operations of the OTP banka and the Group and likewise reviewed the implementation of the business policy and strategy. The Supervisory Board assessed that the performance of the Bank and the Group was stable notwithstanding the pressures brought about by the global financial crisis. The volume of business operations of the Bank increased by 8% and of the Group by 7.8 %, as compared to the end of 2007. The OTP banka Group generated profit before tax in the amount of EUR 44.3 million, of which the amount of 35.4 million was contributed by the OTP banka. The profit is lower than the record profit witnessed in the same period of 2007, mainly due to the tougher conditions prevailing on the financial markets.
In the nine months of 2008 the OTP banka Group enlarged the volume of operations to the total of EUR 5.49 billion; deposits to non bank customers increased by 6.0 % to the amount of EUR 3.1 billion, loans grew by 19 % to EUR 3.7 billion. Operating expenses against total assets of the Group fell from 2.19 to 1.98 bringing the return on total assets to 1.12 %.
Return on capital at the end of October 2008 amounts to 16.46%. Accurate consolidated business information will be presented on the Ljubljana stock exchange website, presumably by the end of the week.
The Supervisory Board got acquainted with the setting up of OTP banka Representative Office in the Republic of Serbia by way of which OTP banka continues implementing its strategic expansion to the south-eastern European markets, particularly to the markets of the former Yugoslavia, where OTP banka is already present through its business partners.
