Bank The workers This morning (Monday) published the reports for the first quarter of the year, which it ended with a net profit of NIS 1.654 billion, an increase of 22.2% compared to the quarter last year. The increase in profit was affected by the continuation of the growth trend in the Bank’s operations, as well as by changes in the index rate and income from credit losses.
Despite this, the bank decided not to distribute dividends for the quarter’s profits, this is the second consecutive quarter after also for the fourth quarter of 2021 it was decided not to distribute dividends, due to the rapid growth in the credit portfolio, mainly construction and real estate, which forced the bank to allocate large capital against The credit provided, and in light of the decline in bond yields that hurt the banks’ equity.
“In light of the increasing uncertainty in the global and local economic environment and the trend of volatility in the markets and against the background of prioritizing the continued implementation of the growth strategy, the Bank’s Board of Directors decided to preserve existing and accumulated capital surpluses at this quarter.” “The Bank strives to return to the outline of current dividend distributions as soon as possible while maintaining balanced growth and estimates that the Bank’s capital level as reflected in this report and the volume of growth are important milestones towards the possibility of renewing dividend distributions for the second quarter of 2022 onwards. “Among other things, the Bank’s results, trends and developments in the markets and macroeconomic conditions, the effect of the implementation of future regulatory provisions and in accordance with legal tests,” the Bank added.
A large part of the growth in the quarter is attributed to the workers’ credit portfolio. Total credit to the public, net, amounted to NIS 364.3 billion at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 3.3% during the quarter compared to the end of last year. Against the background of continued high demand in the housing market, in the first quarter the Bank increased its credit for housing (mortgages) to its customers by NIS 4.6 billion, an increase of 4.1% during the quarter.
Commercial credit grew by 3.7% in the quarter, business credit grew by 2.7% and small business credit grew by 1.4% during the quarter.