Bank Globex boosts RAS net profits 3.6% in Q1
MOSCOW. April 7 (Interfax) - The bank Globex increased net profits to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) by 3.6% to 485.432 million rubles in the first quarter of this year from 468.739 million rubles in the same quarter last year, the bank reported.
Q4 2010 net profits were 92.86 million rubles. The Q1 increase, the bank said, was associated with higher revenues achieved in securities operations that increased the bank's securities portfolio. It was also a product of lower administrative and business expenses.
Globex increased its assets 10.5% to 184.532 billion rubles in Q1 with the growth of its securities portfolio, the bank said. That portfolio was grown by 80% to 39 billion rubles, the bank told Interfax.
"In the first quarter of 2011, the bank's assets increased mainly due to investment in tier-one bonds," a bank source said.
The Central Bank of Russia has said more than once that it is concerned by increasing operations with securities by banks. Director of the CBR's department for licensing and the financial rejuvenation of lending organizations Mikhail Sukhov said back in mid-March that several Russian banks are trying to offset rapidly growing deposits by increasing their securities portfolios. This, he said, creates additional risks for the banking sector.
One of those risks, he said, is associated with securities portfolios playing larger and larger roles in bank assets, and another involves fraudulent securities schemes.
Globex's portfolio of corporate loans stood at 71.8 billion rubles on April 1, having contracted 1.1% over the first quarter from 27.6 billion on the first of the year.
Client funds, including those of other lending organizations, in accounts with the bank increased 15.4% in Q1 to 99.4 billion rubles from 86.1 billion rubles when this year began. Deposits by private citizens stood at 21.1 billion rubles on April 1, up 14.7% from 18.4 billion rubles.
Globex came under the control of VEB in October of 2008. The bank's sanation took 87 billion rubles, and its financial recovery was completed last year.
Globex ended 2010 in 36th place by assets on the Interfax-100 ranking of Russian bank size.
