Erste Bank: Operating Profit Up, Net Income Down

Erste Bank Hungary’s operating profit rose by 11%, while its net income fell by 20% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year due to higher tax burdens, the bank’s chairman and CEO, Radován Jelasity announced at a press conference on Wednesday in Budapest.

Erste’s operating revenues were 10% higher in the first six months than a year earlier, while operating expenses rose 8% year-over-year. The bank closed the period with an after-tax profit of nearly HUF 56 billion, compared to a profit of HUF 69 billion in the same period of the previous year, primarily due to new regulations regarding the extra profit tax.

Both retail and corporate lending expanded significantly in the first half of the year. At Erste, the volume of new retail loans issued in the first six months of 2026 exceeded the figure from a year earlier by 65%, while growth in corporate lending was 97%, the Chairman and CEO reported.

Within operating income, net interest income rose by 11% while fee and commission income increased by 6%. Erste’s operating profit reached nearly HUF 138 billion in the first half of the year, following HUF 124 billion in the same period of 2025.

At the end of June, the portfolio of customer loans and bonds was 17% higher than a year earlier, and the volume of new financing increased significantly – by 75% – compared to June 2025, said Radován Jelasity.

László Harmati, Erste’s Deputy CEO in charge of the retail division, noted, among other things, that the total retail loan portfolio grew by 25% over the course of a year. New mortgage disbursements exceeded the first half of 2025 by 110%. The amount of new personal loan disbursements rose by 42%, while lending to small business owners increased by 45% compared to a year earlier.

Róbert Cselovszki, the bank’s Deputy CEO for Corporate and Financial Markets, reported that in the corporate segment, the bond and loan portfolio at the end of June was nearly 7% higher than a year earlier, reaching HUF 1,147 billion. For small and medium-sized enterprises, new lending rose by 24% year-on-year, while for commercial real estate it exceeded the 2025 figure by 158%, and for large corporations and local governments, it exceeded it by 275%.