Intesa Sanpaolo archive the first semester with a net profit of 422 million eurosin 66,9% decrease compared to the consolidated net result of 1,274 billion recorded in the same period last year. The Bank communicates this after the meeting of the management board. Immediately after the publication of the numbers, the institute's share on the Stock Exchange dropped more than four points.
If we exclude the main non-recurring items, the normalized net profit in the first half is 660 million, against 995 million in the period January-June 2012. The drop in profits comes after the booking of taxes for 638 million, of integration and early retirement incentives for 33 million and charges deriving from the allocation of the acquisition cost for 147 million. Operating income, on the other hand, amounted to 8,205 billion, down by 8,3% on an annual basis.
In the first half, Intesa Sanpaolo underlines, "the group's results reflect a difficult market context and the implementation of a particularly rigorous and prudential policy to further strengthen the already solid balance sheet and in particular to further strengthen provisions, also in anticipation of the verification of the quality of the assets and of the stress test that will soon be conducted on European banks by the competent authorities ".
In terms of capital and liquidity, Intesa is “one of the few banks in the world already in line with the requirements of Basel 3 – writes the institute -. The pro forma common equity ratio under Basel 3 when fully implemented rose to 11%, from 10,6% at the end of 2012, the top level among the major European banks. The Core Tier 1 ratio rose to 11,7% from 11,2% at the end of 2012, considering the deduction regime for insurance investments in force until 31 December 2012, and was equal to 11,1% considering the new regime". The pro-forma EBA ratio was 10,8% "considering the deduction regime for insurance investments in force until 31 December 2012 and 10,2% considering the new regime, compared to the minimum requirement of 9%".
According to the group, in 2013 “great attention will be paid to the various actions aimed at strengthening capital solidity, further improving the risk and liquidity profile, in addition to profitability targets. The repricing actions will make it possible to partially contain the repercussions of the expected unfavorable context on market rates. Strict cost control will make it possible to counteract the effects induced by inflation and automatisms. The cost of credit will remain high”.
