Growth of Montenegro’s bank assets slows further in July

Growth of Montenegro’s bank assets slows further in July
By bne IntelliNews August 28, 2017

Montenegro’s commercial bank assets rose 9.8% y/y to €3.99bn at the end of July, after rising by 10.8% y/y the month before, data from the central bank (CBCG) showed.

Montenegro’s financial system is largely stable, with adequate bank capitalisation and liquidity, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. However, the high level of non-performing loans (NPLs), low provisioning and bank profitability, as well as weak asset quality were identified as sources of vulnerability. The fund has urged the central bank to conduct an Asset Quality Review (AQR) in order to address vulnerabilities caused by inadequate asset valuation in the banking system.

Bank loans, which accounted for 66% of total assets, increased by 7.4% y/y in July, after rising by 9.3% y/y in June, with total stock reaching €2.63bn. The worsening result mainly reflected lower lending to companies.

Corporate lending dropped 1.3% y/y to €1.03 in July, reversing a 0.2% y/y rise in June. Household loans rose 10.5% y/y to €1.08bn, after going up by 12.1% y/y the previous month.

Loans to financial institutions, which accounted for 13.3% of the total loan portfolio, increased by 9.4% y/y to €349.86mn, after rising by 11.5% y/y in June.

Data

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