TBILISI

TBC Bank, Georgia’s biggest bank by assets, tripled its net profit to 610.5 million lari ($197 million) in the first nine months of this year from 221.8 million lari in the same period last year as restrictions to curb the spread of the COVID-19 had been eased.

TBC Bank is one of Georgia’s two biggest commercial banks and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The bank’s operating income amounted to 1.063 billion lari as of September 30, up from 833.5 million lari in the same period last year, while operating expenses amounted to 388.6 million lari, up from 314.3 million lari.

TBC Bank’s total assets rose 8.4 percent year-on-year to 23.7 million lari as of September 30. Total gross loans and advances to customers rose 9.4 percent year-on-year to 15.964 million lari, total customer deposits rose 16.2 percent year-on-year to 14.339 million lari. Total equity rose 22 percent to 3.448 million lari. NPLs were 3.1 percent, down by 0.4 percentage points year-on-year.

On November 4, TBC Bank issued $75 million additional Tier 1 capital Perpetual Subordinated Notes. The issue attracted solid demand from investors across the EU, the UK and the US, evidencing a strong investor appetite for TBC Bank’s credit story. The AT1 issue will allow TBC Bank to maintain an efficient capital structure and strong capital base to fund mid-term growth opportunities.

Earlier this month, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided a 25 million euro loan to TBC Bank for on-lending to local firms, with at least 70 percent of that aimed at financing investments in green technologies. The EU has complemented the loan with grants and free technical assistance for borrowers under its EU4Business initiative.

In March, Fitch Ratings revised the outlook on TBC Bank to “stable” from “negative”, while affirming its long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs). The agency said that the revision of the outlook to “stable” reflected “reduced pressure on the bank’s credit profile from the pandemic and contraction of the Georgian economy.”

Fitch said that the funding and liquidity profile of TBC had been stable as the bank was largely funded by customer deposits (66 percent of liabilities) and there had been no material outflows at times of market turbulence in 2020.

The agency added that it expected that TBC’s pre-impairment profit was sufficient to absorb any additional credit losses from the pandemic without jeopardising its financial profile.

Georgia’s commercial banks reported a total net profit of 1.642 billion lari from January to September compared to a loss of 252.1 million lari in the same period in 2020. The country’s central bank said that total income was 4.426 billion lari compared with 3.542 billion lari in the last nine months of 2020. Banks reduced their expenses in that period to 2.590 billion lari, compared with 3.648 billion lari.