OREANDA-NEWS. June 17, 2010. This is proved by the IFRS consolidated financial statements published by BPS-Bank for 1Q 2010. "The values of indicators characterizing our bank's activity are steadily increasing in comparison with the previous year regardless of a rather complex economic situation in the country and the whole world" – says Vasili Matyshevski, Chairman of the Board, reported the press-centre of BPS-Bank.

It should be noted that in December 2009, the Government of the Republic of Belarus and Sberbank of Russia signed the agreement on acquisition of 93.27% of BPS-Bank's shares by Sberbank of Russia, and conclusion of an investment agreement on long-term development of BPS-Bank.

Therefore, BPS-Bank's performance results in 1Q 2010 prove the efficiency of the new policy of the Bank's management:

Net profit made BYR 50.1 billion, having increased by 75.7% in comparison with BYR 28.5 billion earned in the respective period of 2009;

Net interest income before provisioning reached BYR 69.5 billion, this exceeding the respective figure for 1Q 2009 by 60.0%;

Net non-interest income made BYR 81.3 billion, having increased by 13.3% in comparison with the respective period of 2009;

Operating profit before provisioning was BYR 88.5 billion (increase by 52.2% in comparison with 1Q 2009);

Expansion of the loan portfolio (before provisioning) by 12.6% year-to-date;

Increase of retail funds in the structure of obtained funds up to BYR 1,542.7 billion with 6.5% year-to-date increase;

High level of the Bank's capital adequacy making 16.8%;

High balance sheet liquidity: 20.7% of the Bank's assets are liquid with the expected contractual maturity "less than 1 month".

Loan portfolio (before provisioning) based on performance results in 1Q 2010 made BYR 4,027.8 billion. The provisioning rate as of April 1, 2010 made 4.54%. Increase of the lending volumes was attributed to corporate business: loans to legal entities grew by 14.1% year-to-date and reached BYR 3,669.0 billion, and the retail loan portfolio shrank by 1.0% down to BYR 358.8 billion.

As the indicator of improving economic situation, NPL share in the Bank's loan portfolio reduced from 1.96% as of the year start down to 1.30% as of March 31, 2010, and made BYR 52.5 billion. Meanwhile, the loan loss provisions created by the Bank full cover NPL volume: NPL coverage ratio made 3.5 as of March 31, 2010.

The Bank's assets in 1Q 2010 grew up to BYR 5,038.2 billion with 3.5% year-to-date increase. Income generating assets to total assets made 88.9%. ROE was 4.0%.

The volume of debt securities issued as of end-March 2010 made BYR 329.1 billion including obligations to legal entities under bonds and certificates of deposit being BYR 242.7 billion, and to individuals being BYR 86.4 billion.

Operating cost-to-income ratio made 41.2%. Improvement of the Bank's performance efficiency in comparison with the respective period in 2009 was attributed to growth of operating income in 1Q 2010 by 27.4%.

Net interest spread and net interest margin also prove growth of efficiency of the Bank's operations in 1Q 2010, making 5.6% and 6.2% in 1Q 2010 against 4.1% and 4.6% as of the year start, respectively.

In accordance with Basle Accord, the amount of the Bank's equity as of March 31, 2010 for the purposes of capital adequacy calculation was BYR 690.1 billion, and Tier 1 capital made BYR 690.0 billion, with CAR 16.8% and 16.8%, respectively. ROE was 29.9%.

The Bank was assigned ratings by the three most prominent international rating agencies: Standard & Poors, Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings Ltd. Due to acquisition of the controlling stock of BPS-Bank by Sberbank of Russia, the ratings were updated as follows:

- Fitch Ratings Ltd. upgraded BPS-Bank's ratings: Long-term issuer default rating (IDR) in foreign currency from "B-" to "B" and Support from "5" to "4";

- Moody's Investors Service upgraded BPS-Bank's ratings on May 14, 2010: Long-term on deposits in local currency from В1 to Ва3. Other ratings were confirmed. All ratings were given Stable Outlook;

- Standard & Poor's confirmed Long-term and Short-term ratings of BPS-Bank at the current level "В+/В".