The Board of Directors of Banca Popolare di Bari has approved the 2016 draft budget, to be submitted to the resolution of the Shareholders' Meeting.
Results of the exercise
In a still difficult and unstable macroeconomic context, the programmatic actions envisaged in the 2016-2020 Business Plan are starting to produce the first positive effects, also thanks to the integration of Banca Tercas and Banca Caripe, merged into the Parent Company in July 2016 as part of the project “Single Bank”.
This operation, the implementation of which involved a large part of the operating structure for a substantial part of the year, made it possible to create one of the essential conditions for giving substance to the industrial initiatives envisaged in the coming years for the commercial, technological development and efficiency areas , thanks to the substantial cost and revenue synergies and the advantages associated with the presence of a single corporate entity and a homogeneous organizational and IT platform.
Moreover, the benefits of both cost and revenue synergies deriving from the creation of the "Single Bank" will manifest themselves to a greater extent starting from 2017.
Overall, the final results for 2016 indicate that the Banca Popolare di Bari Group has decisively embarked on the path of structural, financial and profitability consolidation.
The financial year closed with a positive consolidated net result of 5,2 million Euros (4,6 million the individual positive result of Banca Popolare di Bari), moreover after having charged to the income statement charges of 23 million Euros related to the for the resolution of banking crises, including the extraordinary disbursements for the additional contribution to the Resolution Fund for the sale of the 4 good banks (6,6 million), the write-down of the share of the Atlante Fund (8,4 million) as well as the value adjustment connected to the intervention of the FITD (voluntary scheme) in favor of Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena (0,7 million).
The net profit of 5,2 million contrasts with the loss of 296,7 million euros in 2015, determined by the recognition in the financial statements of various and significant non-recurring, extraordinary and preparation components for the initiatives envisaged in the 2016/2020 Business Plan .
The income dynamics reflect the external and systemic context. The interest margin amounted to Euro 231,2 million, down by 4,4% compared to 2015, due to the particularly unfavorable interest rate scenario. Net commissions amounted to 155,2 million and the intermediation margin to 404,8 million euros.
Operating costs amounted to Euro 341,3 million, a sharp decrease (-15,0%) compared to the Euro 401,3 million of 2015 (year in which redundancy fund charges of Euro 50 million were incurred). In detail, personnel costs decreased by 19,4%, other administrative expenses by 4,4%.
Adjustments to loans and other financial assets amount to Euro 95 million, while coverage of non-performing loans remains at high levels, equal to 45,1% as a whole and 62,5% for non-performing loans alone. These values continue to be placed in the high range of the national system.
In 2016, the Group finalized a transaction for the sale of non-performing loans for a gross amount of €470 million, through the first securitization that benefited from the State guarantee (Gacs). A further sale, for a value of at least 300 million, is in the pipeline for 2017.
At the end of 2016, Group loans amounted to 9,2 billion euros, direct deposits to 9,4 billion, while total deposits amounted to 13,5 billion. In the context of indirect deposits, the growth of the "managed" component, from 52% to 58%, should be noted.
In 2016, the Group disbursed mortgages for over 1,1 billion Euros, distributed evenly among both households and businesses, mainly in the territories in which the Group itself is a leader (Puglia, Abruzzo, Umbria, Basilicata and Campania).
The value of the CET1 Ratio, coinciding with the Tier1 Ratio, was equal to 9,92% and the Total Capital Ratio stood at 13,02%. These Group values compare with the minimum requirements assigned for 2016 (SREP), equal to 7,0%, 8,50% and 10,50% respectively.
The rationalization activities within the Group also took the form of a reduction in the number of branches (362 at the end of 2016, 23 less on an annual basis), while the number of employees stood at 3.188 (-71 units).
Lastly, it should be noted that in recent weeks the Bank has been carrying out the activities necessary to achieve the listing of its share on the "Hi-Mtf" multilateral trading system, managed by the company of the same name owned by some primary financial institutions.
