K&H Bank's Profit Down 10% Last Year

K&H Bank's profit after tax decreased by 10% to HUF 67.6 billion in 2022, Attila Gombás, head of K&H Bank's financial division, said at an online press conference on Monday.

He pointed out the decline was mainly due to the fact that their operating costs increased more than revenues, and the impact of special taxes levied by the Hungarian government also contributed to the decline. Government measures to mitigate the effects of the crisis on households and businesses resulted in an expense of HUF 56 billion for K&H Bank and Insurance.

The extra profit tax amounted to HUF 28.6 billion, which was HUF 25.7 billion for the bank and HUF 2.9 billion for the insurer. In addition, the liquidation of Sberbank Hungary resulted in a net additional contribution of HUF 3.6 billion to the National Deposit Insurance Fund (OBA), taking into account the partial recovery.

The interest rate cap on variable-rate mortgages and the agricultural credit moratorium caused a loss of HUF 16 billion. The extension of the interest rate freeze to SME loans and housing loans with an interest period of 3-5 years reduced the fourth quarter result by a further HUF 8.4 billion, he said.

The bank's total customer loans increased by 20% to HUF 2,582 billion in a year. The volume of new retail and corporate loans granted in 2022 reached HUF 680 billion. New baby loans amounted to HUF 61 billion in 2022, he said.

He stressed that K&H was able to improve its market position in both retail and corporate lending, while market lending activity declined in the fourth quarter. K&H's market share in new lending increased to 13.3% in 2022 from 11.8% in 2021.

Corporate lending increased by 29% to HUF 1,550 billion, with the contracted stock of Széchenyi Card loans exceeding HUF 100 billion.

He pointed out that the bank's deposits increased by 6% to HUF 3,813 billion in a year.

The bank's operating income increased by 42% to HUF 285 billion, its balance sheet total stood at HUF 5,585 billion, and its equity capital stood at HUF 421 billion at the end of 2022.

Attila Kaszab, deputy CEO of the insurance arm K&H Biztosító, said that the insurer's net profit after extra profit tax was HUF 6 billion, up from HUF 6.7 billion in the previous year.

Balázs Németh, head of innovation at K&H Group, said that K&H has 640,000 digitally active customers and 520,000 active users of the mobile bank. 88% of customers use some kind of digital channel – internet banking, mobile apps – to manage their affairs. The number of mobile banking logins has reached 8.4 million per month. In 2022, 44% of new accounts will be opened online. Contactless payments are also growing, with smartphone and smartwatch payments accounting for 20% of all card payments, worth HUF 25 billion, he said.