JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest lender, turned a profit in the fourth quarter and said loan delays caused by COVID-19 pandemics have fallen sharply sudden.
Hapoalim said on Thursday that it earned 915 million shekels ($ 267 million) in the October-December period, compared to a net loss of 629 million shekels in the fourth quarter of 2019 when it was hit by preparations to probe tax evasion the US to settle.
Net interest income fell to 2.24 billion pence from 2.29 billion a year earlier, while it had revenue for a credit loss of 187 million shekels after posting provisions for a loan loss of 876 million in the last three months of 2019.
This was the first time in a year that the bank had revenues for credit losses after setting aside 2.1 billion pence in the first nine months of 2020 to protect against loan defaults.
Hapoalim said last year, buyers delayed 42.5 billion shekels of loans but since January 31, that balance has dropped to 11.2 billion. Israel’s banking regulator had allowed banks to cancel loans after a series of lockouts forced businesses to close temporarily or permanently, leading to a spike in unemployment.
They also said they approved a total of 5.7 billion pence in business loans as part of the state-backed loan fund for crisis-stricken businesses and a loan fund for high-risk businesses.
The ratio of Hapoalim Tier 1’s equity to risk assets was 11.52% at the end of December, compared to 11.53% a year earlier.
For 2020 as a whole, Hapoalim’s profit rose 14.3% to 2.1 billion shekels.
On Tuesday, competitor Leumi reported a 20% increase in net profit in the fourth quarter to 890 million shekels.
Reporting by Steven Scheer; edited by Uttaresh.V and Lincoln Feast.